A Brief Background: The Alien franchise (Various, 1979 to present) has certainly had a long and complicated history with videogame adaptations that includes real-time strategies, crossover titles, survival/horror experiences, and a fair number of first-person shooters. Similar to how director James Cameron more thanmet the challenge of delivering a sequel to Ridley Scott’s commercial and highly influentialAlien (ibid, 1976), Konami produced a popular arcade port of Aliens(Cameron, 1984) that came to be regarded as one of the best games in the franchise. However, Konami lost the rights to the Aliens license by the time the divisive third film was released; hampered by production woes, delays, and script problems, it took some time forAlien³ (Fincher, 1992) to become a cult favourite for many fans. It was, however, accompanied by two videogame adaptations, the first being a decent, if confusing, run-and-gun adventure, and the second being this arcade-exclusive rail shooter. In many ways a precursor to SEGA’s later success with the House of the Dead series (SEGA/Wow Entertainment, 1996 to 2022), Alien³: The Gun was lauded as one of the best light gun shooters around at the time, one that successfully merged the atmospheric horror elements of the film with the action-packed enjoyment of a rail shooter.
The Review: I’m tackling my review of Alien³: The Gun a little differently to my other game reviews; it’s still going to be a shorter review because of how short the game is, but I did finish it so I want to go over my thoughts in a little more detail and give it a proper rating. The first thing I need to say is that the game’s title is pretty ridiculous; yes, Alien³: The Gun tells you everything you need to know but could they really not have come up with something a little more interesting and exciting for a subtitle than just The Gun? Secondly, I emulated this game and the ROM I played was a little buggy; elements like the heads-up display (HUD), aiming reticule, foreground, and background would often be invisible or appear corrupted, which was a bit of an issue but I was still able to power through the game thanks to the gift of unlimited credits. Finally, Alien³: The Gun is an Alien³ game only in the sense that it takes place on Fiorina “Fury” 161 and contains locations and Xenomorphs that mirror the film, but it’s actually more like a sequel to the movie and has far more in common with Aliens than the third movie. Rather than playing as Lieutenant Ellen Ripley, you and a friend take on the role of two United States Colonial Marines charged with investigating the Sulaco and cleaning up the rampant Xenomorph infestation on Fury 161, though movie stills are used at certain points to convey story beats like the Alien’s demise from the end of the film. Your standard issue pulse rifle has two basic fire modes; the first is a rapid-fire function tied to a firepower meter and the second sees you tossing out a limited supply of grenades (or “bombs”) to clear all onscreen enemies. If you simply hold down the trigger, you’ll run out of firepower and be left vulnerable as the game automatically moves you through the various corridors and locations; when you input a coin to continue, your bombs will clear a path for you and you acquire a flamethrower to mix things up or restore your health by shooting supplements.
You’ll gun down swarms of Aliens in a game whose action is closer to Aliens than Alien³.
Your main objective is to survive each stage of the game, wipe out any Xenomorphs, robots, or androids in your path, and take out the boss waiting at the end of the stage. There are five stages but, at various points, you’re asked to pick a floor or door or need to shoot through a door to reach a different area, which leads to different routes, thus adding a bit of replay value to the game. You start off on the Sulaco, which is now infested with Alien eggs; Facehuggers leap at the screen and Xenomorph warriors scuttle about on the floors, walls, and ceilings, slashing at you and being left a quivering mess of green goo as you blast off their limbs. Sentry turrets also take shots at you, dead bodies are everywhere, and you’ll be treated to the familiar squeals of defeated Aliens and a few voice samples as you progress. While the Sulaco is obviously based on the location seen in Aliens, right down to the cryo-sleep chamber, the rest of the game’s stages take place either on the storm-swept surface of Fury 161 or in the prison and refinery on the planet. You’ll blast through the mess hall, infirmary, tunnels, and furnace as you go but watch out for the prisoners; not only do you need to avoid shooting them, but you’ll also have to try and save them when Aliens grab them from the vents. Other memorable moments from Alien³ are also surprisingly recreated, such as the scene where the inmates use themselves as bait to trap the Alien in the corridors (they even explode like in the movie), you encountering a Xenomorph in the bowels of the prison, and a final confrontation with the Alien in the lead works. The amount of enemies or prisoners you killed and the damage you took is tallied up at the end of each stage; do well and you’ll gain a higher rank and score higher on the high score table, though this is mainly for bragging rights.
Alien variety is a bit lacking, and nowhere is this clearer than in the final, unimpressive boss.
Although Alien³: The Gun doesn’t feature any of the recognisable music from any of the films, the action comes thick and fast; since it’s a rail shooter, you’re given very little time to breathe and, unlike other light gun games, there’s no cover or reload options so you’re left ploughing ahead into the claws of swarms of Aliens. Weyland-Yutani androids and robots pad out the enemies you’ll encounter, and you’ll see other Alien variants, such as bipedal ones like in Alien³ and “warrior” Aliens like those from Aliens and even Chestbursters (with some even exploding out of the chests of the prisoners!) Each stage ends with a boss battle that basically amounts to you being guided around an enclosed space and blasting at a larger foe until their health bar is depleted; the first boss you’ll face is the “Super Face-Hugger”, a bigger variant that scuttles about, pops back up time and time again no matter how much it appears to be dead, and spits acid at you. After escaping the flaming wreckage of your shuttle and braving the harsh landscape of Fury 161, which is swarming with Aliens and salvage robots, you’ll battle a massive tank-like vehicle. Target its cannons and turrets and it’ll eventually detach and hover in the sky shooting missiles at you! After passing through a pitch-black area with your infrared goggles, you’ll fight a larger Alien drone at the prison entrance. This critter is pretty fast and agile for such a big bugger; it also slashes at you, whips you with its tail, and charges at you with a headbutt and basically sets the standard for the subsequent Alien boss fights. You’ll battle Alien³’s bipedal creature, the “Super Dogburster”, in the bowels of the prison; this one also charges at you and likes to hide behind the many pillars but has the added threat of spitting purple goop from afar to damage you and briefly obscure your vision. After surviving the tunnels, you fight another large Alien by the lead works; this time, you’re stuck in place but it’s pretty simple to stun-lock the Alien until it flees. You catch up to it at the blast furnace and must unload everything you have to force it into the lead works; though it appears defeated, it’ll claw its way back out and you’ll need to shoot the pipes overhead to rapidly cool it and finish it off. After that, you have one last challenge to beat and, thankfully, it’s not a Xenomorph Queen! Instead, you’re confronted by an “unidentified man” (who I assume is Bishop II from the movie) who unloads on you with a flamethrower after learning that you destroyed all the Aliens; simply shoot at him until he stops getting up and you’ll earn yourself a bit of text to wrap things up and a place on the high score table.
The Summary: I love a good, action-packed light gun game; they’re mindless fun but, sometimes, that’s exactly what you want and Alien³: The Gun certain delivers in this regard. Unfortunately, like its home console cousin, Alien³: The Gun is a little restricted by being associated with the Alien³ movie. It’s pretty obvious that this is an Aliens game dressed up to resemble Alien³; you have all the same weapons, sound effects, and even a few locations from Aliens featuring prominently against the background of Fury 161 to bolster Alien³’s far more subdued and bleak narrative. I can understand that, as it’s hardly exciting to make an action-shooter based on a movie with only one Alien in it, but it begs the question of why anyone thought a videogame adaptation of the slower, more contemplative Alien³ was a good idea. Still, that aside, this is a really fun game; it’s painfully short and light on additional weapons and such, but there’s some great attention to detail sprinkled throughout. You can blast off Alien limbs, destroy many parts of the environment (both for fun and to damage foes), and it’s interesting that the developers added in a limited branching path system; it doesn’t change the game that much, but it adds replay value, if nothing else. The Aliens are fun to blast into smithereens, the weather effects on the planet’s surface add a bit of atmosphere, and I enjoyed how aspects of the film were recreated, especially in the mess hall and candle-lit corridors. The bosses could’ve had a little more variety, for sure; as much as I applaud the game for not wheeling out an Alien Queen, it feels like Alien³: The Gun has less Alien variety than other Alien videogames from around this time and plays things a little too safe by just offering bigger, scarier versions of the Xenomorph. In the end, there are obviously better rail shooters out there, but you could do a lot worse than giving Alien³: The Gun a shot; of all the Alien³ videogame adaptations, it’s the best (though not the most faithful) simply for its brevity and the fast-paced, explosive action it offers.
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Pretty Good
Have you ever played Alien³: The Gun? If so, how do you think it compares to the home console adaptation of Alien³? Were you disappointed to see the bleak, atmospheric Alien³ adapted into an all-action shooter? Which of the branching paths did you take and what did you think to the boss variety on offer here? Are you a fan of Alien³? While Alien videogame is your favourite and how are you celebrating Alien Day this year? Whatever you think about Alien³: The Gun, or Alien³ in general, share your thoughts below or drop a comment on my social media, and go check out my other Alien reviews across the site.
15 April has been designated National Anime Day to celebrate the stylistic genre, which achieved mainstream success thanks to animators like Osamu Tezuka.
Released: 31 August 2007 Director: Tetsurō Araki Distributor: Madhouse Budget: Unknown Stars: Brad Swaile, Alessandro Juliani, Brian Drummond, Shannon Chan Kent, and Chris Britton
The Plot: In the Shinigami realm, the mischievous Ryuk (Drummond) regales his fellow Death Gods with tales of his time in the human world, specifically the complex game of cat-and-mouse between Light Yagami (Swaile), who used Ryuk’s killer notebook to punish criminals, and the eccentric “L” (Juliani), a detective determined to bring Light’s alter ego, “Kira”, to justice.
The Background: Death Note (stylised as “DEATH NOTE”) was a manga created by author Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata that began as a very broad and basic concept regarding Shinigami and a series of strict rules. Ohba and Obata developed a system where they would draft storyboards alongside their editor; Ohba visualised the panels during his downtime and Obata was apparently afforded a great deal of creative freedom for his artwork. Published in Weekly Shōnen Jump between 1 December 2003 and 15 May 2006, Death Note was incredibly successful and widely praised for its art, compelling characters, and complex plots and was so popular that it received an equally well-regarded thirty-seven episode anime between 3 October 2006 and 26 June 2007 and two highly praised live-action, Japaneseadaptations. To coincide with the end of the anime, two feature-length specials were produced that retold the story, with new footage linking the condensed format. Many have criticised the films for simply existing as a recap of the anime and a shameless cash-grab, ones that might do a good job of telling a more concise story but ultimately have little appeal for those that have already watched the entire anime series.
The Review: If you’re familiar with the anime version of Death Note, then Death Note Relight may hold few surprises for you; the bulk of the special’s runtime is made up of re-edited scenes and sequences from the anime, recontextualised into a condensed version of the story that acts as both a celebration of the anime and a fantastic way to digest its first twenty-six episodes or so. Death Note Relight is framed as a flashback, of sorts, a tale told by Ryuk to another, unnamed Shinigami (Unknown) who is bored of their realm and wishes to hear stories of Ryuk’s time on Earth before heading there himself. Although unimpressed by the Shinigami’s gift of a rotten apple, Ryuk agrees to share his tale and the story quickly introduces us to budding criminologist Light Yagami who, angered by the various injustices sweeping the world, vowed to stamp out crime and change society for the better using the titular Death Note, a notebook from the Shinigami world that allows the writer to kill and alter the lives of any names written in its pages, in order to become a God of a new world order.
Using Ryuk’s Death Note, Light executes criminals in order to establish a new world order as “Kira”.
A genius prodigy, Light found himself easily bored in classes and by his academic success; although his curiosity was aroused when the Death Note randomly fell from the sky to the campus grounds, he believed the notebook to be a sick prank but couldn’t help himself from trying it out based on the helpful instructions written inside. Realising that the notebook was legitimate, Light soon found himself consumed by a murderous need to punish evildoers everywhere, and quickly overcame his horror at Ryuk’s appearance, apparently ready to face the consequences of his actions with a blasé arrogance. However, even Light was stunned to find that Ryuk approached him not to punish him, but to enjoy the show, with the only consequences of using the notebook being that Ryuk himself would take Light’s life when the time came and the would-be God would be trapped in purgatory afterwards. Despite these warnings, Light continues to use the Death Note to punish those he deems guilty and quickly becomes renowned as a bringer of justice, with his followers dubbing him “Kira” and praising his actions and swift brutality. Although he isn’t happy with the pseudonym, Light can’t help but be pleased by the following he builds and the influence he’s already having, but his joy is short-lived when he’s publicly challenged by the secretive and equally intelligent private detective “L”. Slighted by accusations of his methods, Light doesn’t hesitate to try and kill L, switching from a twisted sense of moral justice to a manic desire to prove his superiority over his newfound rival, even if it means murdering lawmen or those who dare to speak out against his divine actions.
The eccentric L’s suspicions about Light are accurate but he’s frustrated by a lack of evidence.
Naturally, Kira’s actions quickly attract the attention of the International Criminal Police Organisation (ICPO), who were so confused and frustrated by the random series of heart attacks and murders of criminals that they quickly embrace L’s input despite his controversial methods and odd behaviour. An enigmatic figure whose deductive skills are as legendary as his arrogance, L both shocks his colleagues, including Light’s father, detective superintendent Soichiro Yagami (Britton), and impresses Ryuk with his ability to outsmart Light using body doubles, aliases, and distorted voices. Soichiro and his staff are stunned to find that L (who allows them to address him as “Ryuzaki”) is an emaciated, pale, soft-spoken young man with a penchant for sweet treats provided by his handler, Watari (French Tickner). Regardless, L exhibits near-superhuman insight into the Kira murders; simply by observing Kira’s methods, L accurately deduces Kira’s personality and basically everything about him except for how he executes his victims and his true identity. Naturally, volunteers are few and far between since many quit the case to avoid being targeted by Kira, leaving L with Soichiro and a handful of his most loyal officers at his disposal and L somewhat alienates even these men when he proposes closely monitoring them and their families since he suspects that Kira is closely linked to the police department. This leads to surveillance cameras being placed around the Yagami house and public messages being broadcast to try and flush Kira out but, thanks to Ryuk, Light is fully aware of this and goes to great lengths to continue his studies and his vigilante actions while appearing to be just a fastidious student. Though impressed by this, L remains convinced that there’s more to Light but is frustrated by a lack of evidence, and ultimately agrees to officially bring Light into the investigation when the even more dangerous “Kira II” appears.
Guided by Rem, Kira fanatic Misa will do anything, even kill and shorten her life, to earn Light’s love.
At first, Light is fairly routine in his approach to the Death Note and is content to allow his victims to die of simple heart attacks; however, once he learns of the police investigation into Kira, he starts to become more elaborate and complex in his methods. He threatens Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent Raye Penbar (Michael Adamthwaite) and his family with death to learn the names of every FBI agent assigned to the case (and then kills him anyway), which sets his fiancée, Naomi Misora (Tabitha St Germain), on a path of vengeance against Kira. A coincidence of fate sees Light cross paths with Naomi, whose attempts to protect herself with a fake name fail spectacularly when Light emotionally manipulates her into trusting him with her true name, thereby allowing him to compel her to kill herself through the Death Note’s power. Thanks to the Death Note’s ability to alter the lives and destinies of those written in it, Light covers his tracks and picks off both criminals and police officers alike to continue operating as Kira, but even he lacks the “Shinigami Eyes” that Kira II, beloved celebrity Misa Amane/Misa-Misa (Kent), possesses. A Kira fanatic who believes so strongly in his work that she’s willing to indiscriminately murder police officers and anyone who dares to speak against Kira, Misa owes her life to the diminutive Shingami Gelus (Michael Dobson), who broke a cardinal rule of his kind and saved her life at the cost of his own; out of loyalty to Gelus, Rem (Colleen Wheeler) guides and protects Misa on her quest to join forces with Kira. Thanks to the Shinigami Eyes, she’s able to seek out Light and pledges to follow his every word if he agrees to be her boyfriend, even entrusting him with her Death Note and happy for him to use her however he sees fit out of appreciation for him, as Kira, unwittingly punishing the man who killed her parents.
The Nitty-Gritty: The Death Note Relight films are, so far, my only exposure to the anime version of the manga and, from what I’ve seen, there’s certainly enough visual impetus to check out the anime; in fact, the only reason I haven’t yet is simply due to lack of time. The animation and level of detail in Death Note Relight is truly astounding, however; the Shinigami realm, in particular, is a notable highlight. A realm of desolate darkness, gothic architecture, and a veritable bone graveyard as far as the broiling grey clouds allow you to see, the realm is a bleak, nightmarish landscape where the Shinigami sit around, toiling with boredom and unable to find a decent meal. The human world is equally impressive; there’s a fantastic use of lighting and shadows, especially whenever Ryuk appears or Light’s obsessive demeanour is explored, which effectively showcases that Light is seeping further and further into the darkness of the Shinigami world he more he experiments with the Death Note’s capabilities and the more his morality deteriorates. This is also emphasised in the constant framing of eyes; L’s are always half-open and shrouded in shadow, either due to poor natural light or his mop of hair, while Light’s dramatically change colour to an ominous purple-red whenever he’s conspiring to kill to revelling in his sadistic form of justice.
Even the impressive and aloof Shinigami end up subjected to Light’s malicious machinations…
As ever, the most visually impressive and thematically intriguing aspect of Death Note, for me anyway, are the Shinigami; Ryuk appears as a towering, gaunt, gothic figure, never blinking and with a permanent shark’s grin on his face. He observes and comments upon Light’s actions with an unbiased glee, delighting in Light’s murderous actions, and becomes deeply invested in the game of cat-and-mouse between him and L simply because it provides him with a source of amusement for the first time in ages. However, while Ryuk follows Light about, hovering over his shoulder unseen by anyone who hasn’t touched the Death Note, he certainly doesn’t play favourites; he can see the names and life span of others with his Shinigami Eyes but only offers to share this gift in exchange for half Light’s natural life, and rarely offers Light any assistance simply because he finds it amusing to see how Light deals with each obstacle in his path towards Godhood. However, Light coerces the omniscient Shinigami’s assistance in locating the surveillance devices placed throughout his house by threatening to deny Ryuk his beloved apples, which have the same addictive properties to Shinigami as alcohol and cigarettes, showcasing that even a God of Death isn’t beyond Light’s scheming. Ryuk is contrasted by Rem, the skeletal, androgynous (but clearly more recognisably female) Shinigami who has vowed to protect Misa in Gelus’s place. Unlike Ryuk, Rem is far more protective of her Death Note handler; she reluctantly wipes Misa’s memory when she’s held in captivity, threatens to kill Light if he doesn’t find a way to rescue her, actively intervenes to protect her when she infiltrates the Yotsuba Group, and reveals to L and the other officers that Light has been fooling them with fake rules. Rem is horrified both when Misa further shortens her lifespan by dealing with Ryuk and when she realises that Light has manipulated events to take her out of the equation, forcing Rem to kill to keep Misa alive, destroying herself as a result and galvanising Light’s sense of superiority over even the Shinigami.
The intriguing dynamic between Light and L remains despite the special rushing through certain events.
Due to Death Note Relight being comprised of snippets and key moments from the first twenty-six episodes of the anime, there are some issues with the special’s pacing; while I’m familiar with the general story thanks to the live-action films and anyone who’s watched the anime would be able to follow along without much issue, the uninitiated may be put off by how the special breezes through certain aspects of the story, jumping from beat to beat to recap the most narratively important aspects of the anime. Consequently, there’s a disconnect regarding Light’s character, for example; we don’t really get to see him before he acquires the Death Note, which means he appears far more malevolent and self-centered rather than tragic and morally corrupt. A lot of L’s initial mystery is quickly swept aside when Ryuzaki reveals himself so he can work more effectively with Soichiro’s task force, and even Misa’s introduction feels a little rushed considering how important she is to the second half of the story. Regardless, the essential intrigue of Light’s descent into egomaniacal obsession and his tense back and forth with L remain in Death Note Relight; both know so much about each other and yet so little, specifically their true identities, either of which would result in ultimate victory for the other. Light gains a significant advantage when he agrees to team with Misa, but his attempts to manipulate events so he can discover L’s real name are compounded by L’s suspicions about him, which means Light can’t just arrange L’s death without incriminating himself, and L’s incarceration of Misa since she’s far less adept at covering her tracks than Light.
Light’s manipulations put him on track to becoming the God of the new world.
This would spell victory for L if Misa didn’t willingly forfeit her ownership and memories of the Death Note in order to protect Light; however, L is baffled when Light willingly allows himself to be incarcerated and briefly succumbs to despair after his deductions seem incorrect. When Light suddenly changes his demeanour after giving up his own memories as part of a complex plot to manipulate events in his favour, a brief scuffle breaks out between the two that ends with Light being chained to L and uncovering a link between Kira and the Yotsuba Group, which has profited from the killings perpetrated by Light’s patsy, Kyosuke Higuchi (Andrew Kavadas). Higuchi plots to use the Death Note to take over Yotsuba and coerce Misa into marrying him and, when he’s apprehended following an action-packed car chase, L and the others finally learn about the Death Note and the presence of the Shinigami. L is so stunned by this that he completely misses that Light has undergone another dramatic change after reacquiring the Death Note; regaining all of his memories, Light revels in his victory and intellectual superiority, though his plot to murder L stumbles when Misa’s unable to recall L’s true name, forcing her to reduce her lifespan even further to earn Light’s love and respect. Just as L attempts to test the rules of the Death Note, he’s aghast when Watari suddenly dies of a heart attack and all their data is deleted thanks to Rem, who sacrificed her existence to ensure Misa’s safety. Rem also writes L’s name in the Death Note, killing the eccentric and tragic detective and awarding Light ultimate victory. Light plays the part of an enraged, grieving victim well but, once the mourners disperse from L’s grave, Light descends into maniacal laughter; he boasts of his triumph and superiority over his rival and promises to entertain Ryuk further with the creation of his new world. The special comes to an end with Ryuk ruminating over Light’s perceived Godhood and wishing the unnamed Shinigami well in his search for excitement on Earth after all his experiences with Light.
The Summary: As I mentioned at the beginning of this review, I just don’t have the time or motivation to sit down and watch every episode of the Death Note anime, especially if I was to put together an in-depth review. So, for me, Death Note Relight 1: Visions of a God is a fantastic way to experience the general sense of the anime’s story in a relatively painless two hour stint. I make this distinction only because it can’t be denied that the story suffers a bit from the re-edit; if I were to go into this completely blind, I might find some of the characters a bit one-dimensional, the lore of the world a little undercooked, and the pacing a bit suspect as the story jumps between a series of barely-connected events without much cohesion. However, I am initiated so this isn’t a massive issue for me and all the things I love about Death Note are here, from Light’s unbearable smugness, L’s quirky demeanour, and the always impressive Shinigami. The moral implications of the Death Note and Kira’s actions aren’t delved into too deeply (he’s simply seen as a murderer who needs to be stopped, regardless of who he’s targeting), robbing Visions of a God of some of Death Note’s normal nuance, but the character study and dynamic between Light and L is still fascinating to watch. The sequences are all gorgeously animated as well, with fantastic use of atmosphere and a hard rock soundtrack to give even tense dialogue a bit of a punch, and it ends on a cliff-hanger that’s just enticing enough to encourage a watch of the second part. Overall, I think there’s a lot to like here for die-hard and casual Death Note fans alike but Visions of a God is a must-have for anyone who’s a fan of the series but doesn’t want to waste an entire weekend binge-watching the anime.
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Great Stuff
What did you think to Death Note Relight 1: Visions of a God? Did you think it was a bit pointless considering the entire story was told in the anime series or did you enjoy the condensed story? What did you think to Light, his campaign against crime, and his tense rivalry with L? Which of the Shinigami is your favourite and how would you use a Death Note? What was your introduction to anime and how are you celebrating National Anime Day today? Whatever your thoughts on Death Note, or anime in general, feel free to share them in the comments or on my social media.
Released: October 1992 Developer: Probe Software Also Available For: Amiga, Commodore 64, Game Boy, Game Gear, Master System, Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
First Impressions: At first glance, Alien³ seems to share many similarities with the Aliens (Konami, 1990) arcade game; the visuals, especially the sprites, onscreen text, and environments, are strikingly similar and Ripley even wields many of the weapons featured in that game. However, the moment you actually start playing the game, you realise that it’s an entirely different beast, one that has a bit of an identity crisis. For starters, as mentioned, Ripley is armed to the teeth; she’s got the iconic Aliens pulse rifle, a flamethrower, a grenade launcher, and regular grenades, making her decidedly more formidable than she was in the source material, where the entire point was that she and the inmates had to come up with out the box solutions to deal with the resident Xenomorph. Secondly, and most crucially, the game isn’t just a mindless run-and-gun; instead, you’re given a strict time limit to complete a specific objective in each stage and reach the exit, and the game’s locations take on a far less linear, much more labyrinthine structure that closely mirrors the panic and claustrophobia of the movie. Ripley is tasked with rescuing inmates and destroying the Xenomorph infestation, objectives that are somewhat aided by the onscreen Aliens-style motion tracker and the various vents and ladders that help her to get around each location.
Although heavily armed, Ripley’s greatest challenges are the timer and maze-like levels.
Alien³ utilises a simple control scheme, but one I had to shuffle about a bit; by default, A switches your weapon, B jumps, and C fires, but I swapped fire to A and switch to C as that was more comfortable for me. You can pick between one and nine continues, but these are actually how many lives you have, and whether you want to play on Easy, Normal, or Hard mode. I chose nine lives and the Easy difficulty and still found the game to be quite challenging; the timer is a constant headache, meaning you need a lot of trial and error to find the optimal route around each stage, something that is hampered by dead ends, hazards (such as fans and my pet hate, fall damage), and the Xenomorphs. Aliens will crawl out of the ground and along the ceilings and walls, dropping on you and charging at you, though you thankfully don’t have to worry about them constantly respawning or acid damage. Later, Facehuggers apparently also show up and you have to shake them off with the directional pad, though I never saw any in my playthrough. You’ll occasionally have to make some blind jumps to avoid slippery slopes or make use of moving platforms to reach new areas, as well as activating consoles to open doors (or simply blowing them open with a grenade). If you fail to rescue all of the prisoners in time, a gory scene plays out showing them, and Ripley, succumbing to their Chestbursters, and you’ll have to replay the entire stage from the start all over again, which is a real pain in the ass.
My Progression: As I said, Alien³ has a bit of an identity crisis. Judging by Ripley’s weaponry and the way the Aliens are presented, it seems like the developers wanted to make something more akin to the action-orientated Aliens but were stuck adapting the most recent movie. The game impresses quite well with its arcade-style graphics; Fury 161 is recreated nicely, including a wasteland up top and different layers within, and Ripley has a basic alternative pose when left idle. Each stage is preceded by a drooling Alien face and the music is quite jaunty, which is at odds with the bleak source material but helps keep you engaged in the action. Sadly, the gameplay and steep difficulty curve are where Alien³ falls apart; the time limit is way too tight and health and ammo pickups are so scarce that it’s a chore just getting through even the first stage. I was just about able to tank my way through to the third stage, where the layout just became too confusing to continue and I was forced to quit.
Sadly, the game’s difficulty, stringent timer, and lack of passwords make progression a chore.
This wouldn’t be a problem if Alien³ incorporated a password system, but it doesn’t; there are cheats out there, but I couldn’t get any of them to work so I’m not sure if I’ll ever progress further into the game, especially as you can’t seem to earn extra lives or continues. Looking ahead, the game sees Ripley venturing into the blood-stained medical wing, a cargo area and butchery also feature, and the game even includes an Alien nest that is, again, visually ripped straight out of Aliens. Xenomorph eggs pop out Facehuggers, slime drools from above, and various ridge-headed versions of the Xenomorph act as “Level Guardians”, spitting acid, jumping about the place, making use of higher platforms, and players will need to fend off two at once in a large industrial area in order to get their final score tally and earn the extremely lacklustre text ending in with Ripley simply leaves the prison without any repercussions. I’m surprised that the developers resisted the urge to have Ripley fight an Alien Queen, as is often standard for Alien videogames, though these boss battles seem to increase in difficulty simply because the area you battle them in increases in size, giving them more places to hide and surprise you with some acid projectiles from behind the prominent foreground images.
Alien³ is a strange entry in the franchise to adapt into a videogame, and it seems like the developers shared this philosophy; there’s a reason why the game has more in common, in terms of action and gameplay, with the Aliens arcade game than the actual movie on which it’s based and that’s the fact that Alien³ would work much better as a point-and-click adventure or a survival-horror style title, two genres that probably wouldn’t have been successful at the time or on the Mega Drive. It’s not a bad game, really, it’s just the difficulty curve is way too steep; either the game needed a password system or the timer needed to go, but without either it’s a real test of your skill and patience to get anywhere beyond the first few stages. I liked the level of detail, even though things were a bit stiff and janky at times (Ripley sometimes struggled to go down ladders), and the use of gore when you inevitably mess up. The lack of enemy variety was a bit of an issue, though; Alien games, especially around this time, tended to go a bit bonkers with Alien variants but Alien³ plays things way too safe. In the end, it was a largely forgettable and disappointing experience for me, especially as it could’ve been so much more if the Aliens arcade game had simply been ported instead. Still, maybe I just suck; maybe you actually really enjoyed this game. Maybe you had no issue rescuing all the prisoners and navigating the maze-like levels. Or, maybe, you prefer a different Alien³ videogame, or a different Alien game entirely. Whatever your thoughts and feedback, feel free to drop a comment below or on my social media and be sure to check out my other Alien content on the site.
Released: 14 February 2024 Director: S. J. Clarkson Distributor: Sony Pictures Releasing Budget: $80 million Stars: Dakota Johnson, Tahar Rahim, Sydney Sweeney, Celeste O’Connor, Isabela Merced, and Adam Scott
The Plot: After a near-death experience,.paramedic Cassandra “Cassie” Webb (Johnson) begins seeing glimpses of the future revolving around Ezekiel Sims (Rahim), a superpowered businessman determined to kill three teenagers before they can kill him in the future as Spider-Women, compelling Cassie to begrudgingly discover the truth of her past and protect the girls.
The Background: After Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy (2000 to 2007) proved a phenomenal success, Marc Webb’s reboot films proved sadly mediocre and led to an unprecedented agreement between Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios that allowed the iconic wall-crawler to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and Sony to release tangentially-connected spin-offs featuring Spidey’s villains and side characters. Encouraged by the financial (if not critical) reception of their Venom (Various, 2018 to present) movies (and seemingly undeterred after the car-crash reception of Morbius(Espinosa, 2022)), Sony not only signed off on a solo project for Sergei Kravinoff/Kraven the Hunter, but also the enigmatic clairvoyant Cassandra Webb/Madame Web. Created by Dennis O’Neil and John Romita Jr., Madame Web first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #210 and significantly influenced Spider-Man’s battles against multiversal forces, but is perhaps best known for her inclusion in the Spider-Man animated series (1994 to 1998), where she was voiced by Joan Lee (wife of the legendary Stan Lee). Writing began on a Madame Web feature while Morbius was still in production and saw numerousrewrites, even after director S. J. Clarkson signed on and retooled it into Sony’s first female-centric Marvel film. Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura expressed difficulties in adapting Madame Web’s clairvoyance to the screen and emphasising secrecy surrounding the project given her relative obscurity, a fact explicitly addressed by the inclusion of other, more recognisable Spider-Women. The cast appear to have been mislead as to the status of the film in the wider MCU; this may explain the bizarre marketing campaign that saw star Dakota Johnson seemingly openly criticise the film, though she wasn’t the only one. After numerous delays, Madame Web released to scathing reviews; the film made just shy of $100 million at the box office and critics attacked the poor dialogue and script, lacklustre special effects and pacing, and the blatant false advertising regarding three of the lead characters.
The Review: So, if I had a whole bunch of negativity towards making standalone, Spider-Man-less films about the likes of Eddie Brock/Venom and Doctor Michael Morbius, you can be damn sure that I was baffled to the point of insanity by the decision to make a solo Madame Web movie. Not only is she an extremely obscure Spider-Man character, but her depiction is generally as a wizened, blind mentor who manipulates Spider-Man like a chess piece as part of Marvel’s on-again/off-again insistence on convoluting Spidey’s origins and mythos with semi-paranormal cosmic ideas of Spider Totems and “Webs of Fate”. It’s ironic, really, as the concept could have worked a little better if Madame Web had been depicted as a Professor Charles Xavier/Professor X-type figure, mentoring and recruiting Spider-Women to oppose the Inheritors, despite my dislike for them, because at least then the focus would be on the spider-powered women and not this thoroughly unlikeable paramedic who, despite choosing a carer where she’s sworn to protect lives and being depicted as a workaholic who rushes to do that very thing, is reluctant to help the three girls targeted by Ezekiel Sims. Much of Cassie’s reluctance stems from her lingering feelings of abandonment, confusion about her true self and past, and what’s framed as an unconventional upbringing since her mother, Constance (Kerry Bishé), died during childbirth and Cassie was raised in the foster system, left with only mementos of her mother, Constance’s research into the near-mythical spiders of the Peruvian jungles, and the mistaken, childish belief that Constance cared more about her arachnids than raising her daughter. Consequently, Cassie has a bit of an abrasive edge to her; while she tirelessly works to save lives alongside her friend and partner, Ben Parker (Scott), she’s uncomfortable with receiving gratitude for this, has no idea how to act around children, and would much rather spend time in her apartment with a local stray cat than socialise with her colleagues or even Ben’s pregnant sister-in-law, Mary Parker (Emma Roberts). Her anxiety and social awkwardness is only exacerbated after she nearly drowns and is sporadically bombarded by visions of the past and near future, all framed by a mysterious web-like pattern, though she initially dismisses these visions and it takes her a ridiculously long amount of time to realise that they’re not only true, but that the fates she is witnessing can be changed.
Three girls destined for greatness must rely on Cassie’s sporadic clairvoyance to survive.
Central to her visions are four individuals – a violent killer clad in a somewhat-familiar spider-themed costume and possessing superhuman strength and spider-like abilities, and three twenty-somethings teenagers that Cassie sees horribly murdered by this assassin time and again. As fate would have it, their destinies are all intertwined and lead Cassie to encounter the three girls individually to establish some surface-level characteristics for the three that are partially developed as the film chugs along. Julia Cornwall (Sweeney) is the quiet, shy girl who’s struggling with her parents’ divorce, Anya Corazon (Merced) is both book smart (she literally wears a t-shirt proclaiming her love of “math”) and dealing with fending for herself after her father’s deportation, and skater Mattie Franklin (O’Connor) is the streetwise rude girl with a chip on her shoulder since she comes from money. The three couldn’t be more different but quickly form a genuinely enjoyable sisterhood after they’re saved by Cassie; while initially distrusting of her, they eventually come to believe in her janky clairvoyance after she saves them from Ezekiel multiple times. However, Cassie is seemingly impulsively compelled to do this, and it takes her a while to realise the responsibility she has towards the girls; she routinely abandons them, chastises them, and even jets off to Peru to investigate her origins and undergo a spiritual journey that finally teaches her that she has an obligation to protect the three with her abilities. The three girls do their best with the materials, appearing fun and likeable and adding some pathos to their characters through their shared feelings of abandonment, but the script is rarely in their favour. The same is true for Cassie, who constantly narrates her life like an idiot and acts very irrationally for a paramedic, though eventually she settles into the role of a reluctant surrogate mother and protector to the girls.
Ezekiel targets the girls to save his own life, but is a pretty weak and one-note villain.
The girls are targeted by Ezekiel since he’s been plagued by visions of his death at their hands at some point in his future. Previously working alongside Constance, Ezekiel betrayed and killed her to get his hands on a mysterious spider that granted him his amazing powers, but also cursed him with the knowledge of his impending death. In the interim, he built a vast, indistinct corporate empire and has become obsessed with finding and killing the three Spider-Women who’ve haunted his nightmares, aided by his “girl in the chair”, Amaria (Zosia Mamet), who hacks into the police database and CCTV cameras all over the city to track the girls down. It’s not made clear why the Spider-Women would hunt down and kill Ezekiel in the future, or what he’s done that makes him such a diabolic villain except one confirmed kill, but boy does he like to mumble and grumble about how badly he wants them dead and his desire to ensure he lives on! As if having all the wealth and technology he needs at his disposal isn’t enough, Ezekiel also possesses spider-like powers; he can walk and climb on walls, leap vast distances, possesses superhuman strength and reflexes, and can poison his victims with a touch, eventually causing cardiac arrest. He also seems to display some degree of clairvoyance and psychic power to rival that of Cassie, communicating to her on the astral plane at one point, and dresses in an admittedly cool looking outfit when out on the prowl. How he changes in and out of this isn’t made clear either, however, as he’s often seen wearing the form-fitting suit in one scene and then fully in his business attire in the next with no explanation, and he’s routinely humiliated by Cassie since she can anticipate his actions ahead of time. While Cassie doesn’t demonstrate the same superhuman powers, the three girls do in the frantically-edited visions of the future, though it’s unclear how, when, or why they gained superhuman powers. Ezekiel does, however, share his powers with the mysterious Las Arañas, a secret Peruvian tribe who dress in makeshift jungle attire that’s very similar to Spider-Man’s and try to save Constance when she’s wounded, delivering Cassie and then later making her realise that her mother ventured into the jungle to save her, not because she didn’t care about her. Frankly, I find this whole aspect to be borderline insulting; I hate the idea of a tribe of Spider-People and of a spider species that can grant these powers as it diminishes Spider-Man’s uniqueness, though the depiction of the spider-powered people clambering and leaping about the place is pretty good and surprisingly horrific, especially when Ezekiel is tossing bodies around in Cassie’s visions.
The Nitty-Gritty: There’s a shared feeling of abandonment between the four female leads; all of them feel like outsiders to some degree, isolated from others and even their families since they either don’t have a parental figure, or their parents don’t seem to care about them. While their individual personalities initially clash because of their different backgrounds and current social standing, they quickly bond once they realise how much they have in common, with the three girls, especially, forming a makeshift sisterhood due to their current circumstances. Although Julia is Cassie’s most vocal supporter, they initially believe she’s either crazy or just another adult they can’t rely on and decide to go against Cassie’s warnings and fend for themselves, an action that very nearly sees them all killed by Ezekiel before Cassie intervenes. She chastises them, angry at their irresponsible and reckless actions, but struggles to give them the answers they want and to properly care for them since he’s apparently so maladjusted that she can barely stand to be around her handful of friends, much less look after three scared teenagers. Thus, she turns to Ben to shelter the girls while she tries to find answers in Peru; this turns out to be a good decision since Ben is a much more emotionally stable individual. He deeply cares for his sister and is extremely excited about being an uncle, but is also devoted to his friend and partner, to the point where he resuscitates Cassie after she drowns, begs her to socialise with his family and their colleagues, and agrees to look after the girls even though he has no idea what kind of danger they’re in. As good as Adam Scott was in the role (I particularly liked the banter he shared with Cassie, which hinted at a former attraction, and his struggles to keep up with the girls), the only reason he’s here is for fan service: yes, he’s playing the future Uncle Ben and, through him, we even see the birth of his nephew (who ridiculously goes without a name) and get hints towards his future, despite Madame Web taking place in its own separate continuity from previous Spider-Man movies. There’s also something really weird about Julia, Anya, and Mattie all being older than Peter and the frustration of the three running around in normal street clothes instead of the awesome Spider-Women suits we barely get a glimpse of in their future.
In the absence of the Spider-Women, we’re left relying on Cassie’s visions and Ezekiel’s threat.
Yes, Madame Web is another great example of Sony lying to us; the trailers and posters showcased Julia, Anya, and Mattie as fully-empowered Spider-Women but this isn’t the case at all. I guessed that we wouldn’t see them suit up until the very end, but the truth is far worse; they only wear their costumes in fleeting visions, with no explanation of how they get their powers, and the film has the gall to setup a potential sequel that actually addresses these issues, but to me it’s a dropped ball that completely derails the movie. The bulk of Madame Web is focused on Cassie’s struggles to reconcile her past and understand her newfound powers; there are numerous scenes of her witnessing snapshots of the future, meaning we get a lot of time loops and confused looks from Cassie that border on the maniacal as she tries to understand what’s happening. Primarily, though, these visions are used as fake outs; almost every time, the scene will show Ezekiel coming in, wrecking fools, and killing his targets in an almost effortless manner, only to suddenly snap back to Cassie and show her taking action to avoid this fate. It’s all very reminiscent of the Final Destination films (Various, 2000 to present), which is fitting but kind of lowers a lot of the stakes since you can just assume every violent scene or action sequence is just a vision. When Ezekiel does get a chance to fight, he’s effectively peerless; none of the protagonists have the strength or ability to go toe-to-toe with him, meaning Cassie drives a lot of cars into him and catches him off-guard with her clairvoyant powers, leaving him perplexed and looking stupid. When the Las Arañas appear, it’s all shot with an unsettling, nightmarish shaky-cam filter that makes their appearances and abilities not only difficult to pin down, but also appear needlessly cartoonish. There are some decent effects at times, such as when Cassie takes her spiritual journey and interacts with the Web of Fate and the lingering memory of her mother, and things are surprisingly grounded for a Sony Spider-Man-adjacent movie, with Ezekiel being unable to swing from webs and more reliant on his physical abilities. This, in conjunction with his intimidating costume, does paint him as a formidable figure; he’s almost like a slasher villain at times, draining the life from his victims, breaking their limbs, and pouncing like an animal, but this persona is awkwardly juxtaposed with his pandering civilian identity, where he may as well twirl an old-timey moustache as he spouts generic villain dialogue with little charisma or conviction.
Cassie accepts her fate to defeat Ezekiel and mentor the future Spider-Women.
So, all these recent revelations help Cassie make sense of her mother’s notebooks; while she previously resented Constance’s apparent fixation on her spider research, she realises that her destiny has been intertwined with Ezekiel’s since before her birth and takes herself to Peru to find answers. There, a Las Arañas, Santiago (José María Yazpik), helps her to realise that her mother was trying to cure her of some disease and that she has a greater destiny, one that will bestow her with “great power” once she accepts the “responsibility” that comes from her abilities. Before, she saved and sheltered the girls simply because it was the right thing to do; she had little interest in watching over them or bonding with them, or of their greater destinies as Spider-Women, but her spiritual journey motivates her to actively shield them from Ezekiel’s wrath, and gives her greater control over her future sight. After rescuing them and allowing Ben and Mary to get to safety, Cassie takes the girls to a fireworks warehouse and they finally set aside their differences to set a trap for Ezekiel, planting flares all over the place to cause a series of explosions. This actually causes quite a few issues for the protagonists, however, as the explosions destroy the helicopter Cassie called in to rescue them and eventually sees Julia, Anya, and Mattie separated and facing fatal falls. Luckily, Cassie masters her powers enough to…somehow…spiritually duplicate herself long enough to help the three to safety, incurring Ezekiel’s anger. Despite him being haunted by very specific visions of his death at the hands of the three Spider-Women, Cassie changes his fate and claims that she was always the one who was destined to end him (which doesn’t seem true, but okay) and lures him onto unstable ground, eventually causing him to plummet to his death and be crushed by debris. Cassie also takes a plunge but, luckily, she taught the girls CPR earlier and they’re able to revive her, though she’s not only inexplicably left paralysed with no explanation but also winds up blinded by a stray firework. Still, she’s not bothered by this; in fact, the film ends with her happier than ever since she can now, presumably, use the full extent of her psychic powers and clairvoyance to see and understand the future and is prepared not just to take on the three as their foster mother, but to mentor them into the Spider-Women they are destined to become…effectively ending the film where it really should’ve started! Like, why not have Cassie already be infirm but fully empowered and training, say, Julia, showing their origins through flashbacks and exposition, and have Julia be the point woman in recruiting Mattie and Anya when Ezekiel, an Inheritor assassin, targets them? It could’ve been Sony’s answer to the X-Men, in a way, and even take place in the same universe as their other pointless spin-offs, and might’ve been more enjoyable because then we would’ve gotten to see the gorgeous Sydney Sweeney in their slick, form-fitting Spider-Woman costume for a lot more of the runtime!
The Summary: I went into Madame Web expecting it to be bad based on the trailer, the disaster that was Morbius, and my dislike for the concept in general. I tried to have an open mind, however; the cast, for example, intrigued me, as did the costume design, and to be fair there is the ghost of a semi-decent idea here, it just would’ve worked better as a side plot in a Spider-Man film or reworked to have Julia Carpenter/Spider-Woman at the forefront, with Cassie as a mentor figure. Any goodwill the film might’ve gotten from its Spider-Woman costumes is flushed down the toilet since we barely get a good look at these and the girls don’t even become Spider-Women in the movie; Ezekiel’s costume and action scenes somewhat make up for this, but he’s such an ineffectual and confusing villain that it’s hard to care when he’s onscreen. The relationship between the protagonists was somewhat enjoyable; I liked how the girls bonded, their shared feelings of abandonment, and them coming together as a surrogate family, but it’s executed so poorly and, although the girls do try, they’re all hampered by a really awful script. Dakota Johnson suffers from this the most, I think; she was some weird, awkward silences and quirks and is forced to spit out some really awful dialogue and nonsensical exposition. Add to that the fact that Cassie is a weird and pretty unlikeable character, abandoning and yelling at the girls even though she’s supposed to be a paramedic and you have a main character who’s hard to relate to, a villain as flat as a piece of paper, and three boisterous young girls who are completely wasted in this travesty of a film. It’s more than a step back for the genre; Madame Web harkens back to a time when superhero movies were not only afraid to use codenames and costumes, but outright ashamed of them, delivering cookie cutter dramas that falter at the first hurdle. It’s a sad state of affairs and I have lost all hope for Sony’s future Spidey-adjacent movies, and my expectations were already at the bottom of the barrel to begin with!
My Rating:
⭐
Rating: 1 out of 5.
Terrible
Did you enjoy Madame Web? If so…what’s the matter with you? What did you think to the performances and the dynamic between the four protagonists? Were you disappointed that the girls didn’t actually become Spider-Women in the film? What did you think to Ezekiel, his characterisation, and the nonsense about the Las Arañas? Do you think a Madame Web movie could ever work, or would you rather see a Spider-Woman take the forefront? Which Spider-Woman is your favourite? I’d love to know your opinion of Madame Web, so leave a comment below and be sure to check out my other Spider-Man and Marvel content.
Upon the release of Pokémon: Blue Version and Pokémon: Red Version(Game Freak, 1996), a new craze swept through playgrounds across the world. Entire generations grew up with Pokémonas clever marketing saw Nintendo’s newest franchise become a massively lucrative and popular multimedia powerhouse that endures to this day. Accordingly, February 27th is now internationally recognised as “National Pokémon Day”, which I’m expanding to an entire month of Pokémon every Tuesday in February, which is even more fitting given that February 6th is the day that Mew successfully gave birth to my favourite Pokémon, Mewtwo!
Released: 13 July 2013 Director: Kunihiko Yuyama Distributor: Toho Budget: Unknown Stars: Sarah Natochenny, Miriam Pultro, Scottie Ray, Samia Mounts, Eileen Stevens, Jason Griffith, and Ikue Ōtani
The Plot: Ash Ketchum (Natochenny) and his friends arrive in Pokémon Hills, where a Red Genesect (Ray) and its brethren seek to forcibly make their home. This attracts the attention of the Unovan Mewtwo (Pultro), who seeks not only to challenge the Genesect’s power but to shield them from the abuse of their human creators.
The Background: It would be foolish to deny how influential Pokémon (Nintendo/Creatures/Game Freak, 1995 to present) has become ever since the first games were released. The success of the game is only ever half the story when it comes to Pokémon, however; the franchise has dominated a wide variety of media over the years, thanks in no small part to the still-ongoing anime series (1997 to present). Following the financial success of the aptly-titled Pokémon: The First Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back(Yuyama, 1998), animated feature-length productions became commonplace for the franchise, with fifteen released by 2013 and the last three focused on promoting the fifth generation of the videogames. Reportedly, Genesect and the Legend Awakened drew inspiration from New York City for its setting but the main story surrounding the film was its inclusion of Mewtwo. While this isn’t surprising considering Mewtwo is one of franchise’s most popular characters, what made this different was that this version of the character was entirely new due to legal issues and therefore more recognisably female. Debuting at number two at the Japanese box office and going on to become the tenth highest-grossing film of the year in Japan, Genesect and the Legend Awakened received mostly mixed reviews; some praised for its darker tone and cinematic scope while others criticised the inclusion of a new Mewtwo and largely derivative plot.
The Review: By the time of Genesect and the Legend Awakened, the anime was firmly entrenched in the Unova region and Ash and his faithful friend Pikachu (Ōtani) were traveling alongside Iris (Stevens), a Gym Leader specialising in Dragon-Type Pokémon and accompanied by Axew (Kayzie Rogers), and Cilan (Griffith), another of the region’s Gym Leaders who favoured Grass-Types. My experience with these seasons of the anime is almost entirely limited to the feature films that were released around this time, though the dynamic between the three really isn’t all the different from what was seen between Ash and his other travelling companions; they function as his moral support and guidance, but there are some interesting distinctions, such as Iris being a bit of a wild child and Cilan being very loquacious. The three find themselves in New Tork City, a bustling island metropolis that features a grand park right in the middle (a “Central Park”, if you will), Pokémon Hills, in which various Pokémon roam freely beneath a special dome and where Ash encounters the mysterious, armoured insectoid Pokémon known as Genesect (Stevens). Immediately intrigued by the strange creature, Ash is blown away when it showcases the ability to switch between a bipedal form and a super-fast, aerodynamic form that’s perfect for flying (and sky-surfing), and further stunned when it exhibits the ability to talk using telepathy. Ash and his friends are moved by the lost Genesect’s plight; it’s desperate to return “home” and Ash is determined to help it, only to incur the wrath of its overprotective patriarch, the Red Genesect, who regards all humans as a threat.
Ash and his friends are astounded by the Genesect and the sudden appearance of an all-new Mewtwo.
Luckily, Mewtwo is on hand to defend them, but its priority is safeguarding Pokémon rather than humans; although Ash briefly expresses familiarity with Mewtwo, he mentions nothing of his previous encounters with it and the two are strangers to each other, largely because this isn’t the same Mewtwo he’s met before. While Mewtwo focuses on helping the Genesect and defending the local Pokémon, Ash and the others are also assisted by a concerned Sableye (Bill Rogers) that’s driven from Pokémon Hills by the Genesect’s aggressive invasion, and befriend the friendly, childlike Genesect they first encounter. This friendly Genesect opposes Mewtwo’s belief that all the Genesect crave destruction and simply wants to go home, where its beloved Panna Lotus flowers bloom, a desire shared by its brethren and which makes them susceptible to the Red Genesect’s destructive whims. As ever, Ash is shadowed by Jessie (Michele Knotz), James (Carter Cathcart), and Meowth (ibid) of Team Rocket and meet a new friend, Eric (Jake Paque), a park ranger who oversees Pokémon Hills and brought and ancient Panna Lotus flowers there from Absentia Natural Park, an achievement he’s very proud of given the rarity of the flowers. Naturally, Eric primarily delivers exposition regarding the city and its famous Pokémon reserve and realises that the Genesect’s invasive nest poses a significant threat to the city as it directly siphons its power supply and he proves instrumental in restoring power to the city while the genetic Pokémon engage in a furious battle. Team Rocket’s desire to kidnap Pikachu gives way to a plot to capture the Genesect, and Mewtwo, not to curry favour with their boss but to realise their own ambitions for power. Of course, they’re easily dispatched by the Genesect, once again reducing them to a throwaway gag that has little impact on the plot. Similarly, there’s not much for Iris or Cilan to do here; when they are useful and bring a bunch of wild Pokémon to help quell the Genesect’s attack, they quickly realise that the brutal fight is misguided as the Genesect simply want to live in peace and are largely being forced to attack by the red-hued leader.
Mewtwo is compelled to help the Genesect, but the Red Genesect is determined to enforce its will.
One of the things I absolutely loved about Mewtwo Strikes Back was the sense of mystery and foreboding surrounding Mewtwo (Philip Bartlett). The entire opening sequence was devoted to its tragic origins and painting it as a destructive and slighted Pokémon, and from there it was kept shrouded in shadow and mystery before its big reveal. Much of that is tossed out of the window here; Mewtwo is the first character we see onscreen, blasting through the skies over the Unova region, and she is presented as being sociable with local Pokémon and enjoying testing her limits by freely assuming her Mega Mewtwo Y form. Although Pokémon are rarely identified by their gender in the anime (even Pikachu is generally just called “it”), I feel comfortable describing this Mewtwo as a female since her voice is clearly female and her Mega Mewtwo Y form clearly evokes female anatomy, all of which demonstrates that this is an entirely different character from the one we knew before even commenting on her more carefree nature. In comparison, the Red Genesect and its brethren emerge from dark clouds and cross through frigid mountains, indicating that they don’t enjoy the same freedoms as Mewtwo. The Red Genesect is clearly positioned as the group’s leader; unlike its regular purple variants, it is forceful, commanding, and confident, exuding a maternal protectiveness over its kin and is fully capable of bending the other Genesect to its will when they hesitate to follow its commands. While all the Genesect see others, especially humans as a threat, they’re largely timid and childlike; the Red Genesect, however, is aggressive and forceful, attacking Mewtwo even after she helped its kin and leading the Genesect in an all-out assault against Pokémon Hills in order to build their nest.
The Nitty-Gritty: The visual inspirations of New York City are undeniable in Genesect and the Legend Awakened; it’s normal for Pokémon to base its regions and towns on real places but the influence is so strong here that New Tork City may as well be the famed City That Never Sleeps. Not only is it a lively megalopolis with a central reservation for wild Pokémon, its skyline is dominated by skyscrapers, sirens are everywhere, it’s lit up at night with hustle and bustle, and humans and Pokémon work together to maintain the city. One thing I will say about the Pokémon movies is that their presentation definitely improved as the years went on; the blend between traditional animation and CGI is far less jarring than before and used to great effect whenever the Genesect and Mewtwo engage in battle or multiple Pokémon fill the screen. The Genesect are very unnerving Pokémon; they’re very rigid and almost robotic, but also capable of unleashing powerful elemental attacks with their different “Drives” and transforming into a faster form at will. Their childlike demeanour and blank expressions are also quite unsettling, making the Red Genesect’s domineering personality all the more unnerving as it barks orders and forces its kin to assert themselves even when they have no desire to.
Inexplicably, we have a new, female Mewtwo who distracts from the enjoyable moments.
So, it’s clear from the moment we first meet this Mewtwo that she’s different from the last one; this Mewtwo enjoys testing her powers, especially her Mega Evolution, even going so far as to breach the upper atmosphere to go beyond her limits. Like its more recognisably male counterpart, this Mewtwo was created by a group of scientists using Mew’s genetic material; however, she endured horrendous torture at the hands of her creators, seemingly destroying them in a bid for freedom and finding acceptance and friendship with Unova’s wild Pokémon rather than being driven to destroy humanity. Thus, just as the male Mewtwo wished to liberate Pokémon from human control and fought valiantly to keep its clones safe from persecution, this Mewtwo is very protective of Pokémon. She doesn’t hesitate to swoop in and carry the Genesect to safety when they’re threatened by an avalanche or to shield others from the Genesect; however, while she has no love for humans, she’s far less aggressive towards them and simply chooses to ignore them rather than directly target them. Mewtwo feels a kinship with the Genesect due to their similar backgrounds; like her, the Genesect were genetically recreated against their will after Team Plasma extracted their DNA from fossils. The comparisons don’t end there; just as Mewtwo was scientifically augmented to have incredible psychic powers, the Genesect were outfitted with powerful laser cannons, and they too also went on a destructive rampage soon after being awakened and have been searching for their place in the world ever since. Mewtwo’s first instinct is to help them but, when the Red Genesect proves hell-bent on destruction, she stands against them purely to protect the native Pokémon. Even now, I find the decision to introduce an all-new Mewtwo incredibly bizarre; I get that there were legal issues, but I feel like a more creative solution could’ve been found, or maybe just excise Mewtwo from the script altogether as it’s really weird that another Mewtwo was created by the exact same methods and resulted in an almost identical character; maybe if she had been shiny or spent the entire time in her Mega Evolution form it would’ve helped but, as is, it’s very confusing and distracting from everything else happening in the film.
After a selfless sacrifice and a vicious battle, the Red Genesect finally ceases its relentless attack.
Since Mewtwo so strongly associates with the Genesect’s plight, she’s eager to help them but is met with aggression at every turn from the Red Genesect, which refuses to listen to reason and forces Mewtwo to battle it in the heart of the city in an action-packed fight that resembles a kaiju battle! Mewtwo’s Mega Evolution gives her the speed and power she needs to match the Red Genesect’s unrelenting assault; she shields herself from its energy beams, vanishes in the blink of an eye, and moves so fast that time slows around her. Once again, Ash is compelled to throw himself in the line of fire to shield innocents from the Genesect’s relentless attack, only this time it’s the friendly Genesect that takes the hit, sacrificing itself to save its new friend. This only compels the Red Genesect to redouble its attack, however, which Mewtwo is more than willing to match; using her Mega Evolution, she takes on the Red Genesect and three remaining kin all by herself, easily dodging and countering their attacks with her blinding speed. Unfortunately, the city’s power supply is damaged during the fracas and the nest goes up in flames, trapping and threatening all within. Thankfully, the downed Genesect is revived by the sight of its beloved flowers and fights to put out the flames alongside the other Pokémon, saving the other Genesect and proving to them that they need not fear the world. Blinded by rage, the Red Genesect refuses to back down and even opens fire on its brethren; frustrated by the creature’s stubbornness, Mewtwo pushes herself beyond her limits to force the Red Genesect into the upper atmosphere, where they both finally realise that their lives have more meaning than pure destruction and that even anomalies such as them can coexist in the world. Moved by the sight of a world without boundaries, the Red Genesect finally relents, and the other Genesect work alongside the other Pokémon to save the two as they plummet to the ground on re-entry. Thanks to Ash’s friendship and help, Mewtwo relaxes her prejudices against humanity and, in the aftermath, the protagonists help their newfound friends construct a new nest in Absentia Natural Park, where the Panna Lotus flowers are plentiful, finally allowing them to build the home they’ve longed for since their resurrection.
The Summary: Genesect and the Legend Awakened is definitely one of the poignant Pokémon movies; generally, the films teach similar messages about acceptance and friendship and equality but, by retreading some of the same ground that we saw in Mewtwo Strikes Back, the film touches upon some of the more mature themes regarding identity and acceptance that made that first movie so memorable. As is often the case, there isn’t much for Ash’s supporting cast to do here, but there’s a decent enough reason for that; the plot is firmly focused on the dynamic and parallels between Mewtwo and the Genesect, especially the hyper-aggressive Red Genesect, which embodies all of the destructive prejudices of Mewtwo’s male counterpart and cares for nothing other than the survival of itself and its kin. This parallel works well in the film, since Mewtwo may not care for humans but she absolutely cares for the safety of Pokémon, and results in some explosive action sequences as we finally see Mewtwo unleashing her true power, but it’s hard to really be that invested since this isn’t the same Mewtwo we’ve come to know. I wish I could say that the movie is able to overcome this but, while it is entertaining in its own right, it just sticks out like a sore thumb; had this been the same Mewtwo, the juxtaposition of one genetically-engineered Pokémon opposing another, one that has learned to set aside hatred and violence, with a less morally inclined counterpart would’ve landed so much better. Ash could also have been more invested in Mewtwo’s battle, rather than simply helping out because he’s such a friendly kid, and Mewtwo’s story could’ve come full circle in a satisfying way. Instead, I just can’t help but keep asking why there’s another Mewtwo, how she can possibly be so similar to the other one, or wondering where the male Mewtwo is or if it even exists! If you’re able to set all this aside then this is a pretty decent Pokémon feature, one that delivers an important message, but personally I can’t really get past this decision and it makes the film more of an anomaly than anything else.
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Pretty Good
What did you think of Pokémonthe Movie: Genesect and the Legend Awakened? Were you put off by the bizarre inclusion of a new version of Mewtwo or did her Mega Evolution make up for this? What did you think to the Genesect and their plight, specifically the Red Genesect’s vendetta? Were you disappointed that the supporting cast didn’t have much to do or did the visual spectacle distract from this? How are you celebrating Mewtwo’s birthday this year? Whatever you think about Genesect and the Legend Awakened, Mewtwo, and Pokémon in general, leave your thoughts in the comments below or leave a reply on my social media.
Story Title: “The Death Egg Saga Book One: Scrambled” Published: September 1996
Story Title: “The Death Egg Saga Book Two: Poached” Published: October 1996
Story Title: “The Death Egg Saga Book Three: Over Easy” Published: November 1996
The Background: When Sonic the Hedgehog blasted onto the videogame scene in 1991, he was an immediate hit thanks to his debut title being bundled with the Mega Drive and SEGA’s aggressive marketing campaign. His popularity exploded with Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (SEGA Technical Institute, 1992), however, and Sonic merchandise was suddenly everywhere; not only did he feature in the Macy’s Day Parade and in cartoons but he also starred in a number of comic books. Following the initial four-part miniseries, which mashed together narrative elements of Sonic’s cartoon adventures, Archie Comics began regular publication of what would become the longest-running videogame comic book ever. In time, to capitalise on Sonic’s continued popularity, a number of spin-off comics were produced, including limited issue releases such as this one designed as adaptations of various Sonic videogames. While the videogame lore often clashed with Archie’s unique continuity, and later led to a series of convoluted retcons, these did introduce popular franchise characters like Knuckles the Echidna into the comics and helped to broaden Archie’s continuity.
The Review: Since I wasn’t able to get my hands on Archie’s Sonic comics over here in the United Kingdom, I’ve always had a bit of a fascination with them, despite how complex their narrative eventually became with a whole mess of original lore and characters clogging up the pages. Still, one of the first priorities for me when these comics were collected in mini volumes was to pick up the “Death Egg Saga”, which was published in one of those Sonic the Hedgehog Select collections, primarily because Sonic 3 & Knuckles is my favourite of the classic Sonic games but also because I was intrigued to see the Death Egg, and Knuckles, looped into Archie’s quasi-continuation of the notoriously popular Sonic the Hedgehog/SatAM cartoon (1993 to 1994). For context, “The Death Egg Saga” picks up shortly after the long-lost King Maximillian Acorn was finally rescued from the Zone of Silence after being trapped there around about the same time Doctor Ivo Robotnik conquered Planet Mobius. While the Freedom Fighters celebrated their liege’s return, this would come to upset the balance of power and focus of their crusade against Dr. Robotnik as the out of touch King Acorn undermined the authority of his daughter, Princess Sally Acorn, and favoured the likes of the abrasive Geoffrey St. John over Sonic. Consequently, the story begins with St. John (one of my least favourite Archie characters) skulking around the Freedom Fighter’s hidden haven, Knothole Village, at the crack of dawn; he’s spotted by Sonic and the two get into a war of words that almost comes to blows before Sally intervenes and reveals that her father is slowly losing his mind and body to a bizarre crystalline infection.
When Sonic and Tails look for Magic Rings to help the King, they stumble upon the Death Egg!
As best as Knothole’s resident physician, Doctor Horatio Quentin Quack, can figure, this is a result of the King’s extended stay in the mysterious Zone of Silence; in order to keep the Freedom Fighters from panicking, King Acorn’s condition has been deemed top secret and Sally orders St. John to stand guard over the King while they explore their options. Their trusty mechanic and science expert, Rotor the Walrus (occasionally called “Boomer”), is at a loss but rookie Freedom Fighter Miles “Tails” Prower hits upon a possible solution when he observes that the King’s crystalline skin resembles the texture of Chaos Emeralds. This prompts Sonic to retrieve his recently-acquired “one-billionth Magic Ring” to try and use its Chaos Emerald powers to reverse King Acorn’s condition, though it proves to be a fleeting solution. Rotor theorises that the Ring is unique to Sonic and suggests gathering as many others as possible to try again, prompting Sally to send Bunnie Rabbot and Antoine D’Coolette out to the mysterious Lake of Rings in the forest and Sonic and Tails to the Ring Grotto outside Robotropolis, Dr. Robotnik’s industrial, mechanical city. This area has been irrevocably changed and damaged following a recent fight between Super Sonic and Hyper Knuckles, and Dr. Robotnik’s attacks, and the two are stunned to find the Ring Grotto has been sealed beneath an impenetrable steel dome. Sonic leaves Tails to watch over the area while he races off to recruit a bruiser named Carl Condor to help bust it open, and the young fox-boy is shocked when the dome suddenly opens up and the Grotto’s entire supply of Magic Rings is sucked up into the clouds courtesy of a giant vacuum tube, which also takes Tails along with it! At the Mobian Cliffs, Sonic is shocked by a sudden and unnaturally faster solar eclipse, almost as if something artificial were crossing the Sun’s path, and horrified to find that Carl has been robotocised; caught off-guard, Sonic is rendered unconscious by the mechanical vulture and carried into the sky towards an ominous, egg-shaped superstructure.
Knuckles and the Chaotix are aghast when the Death Egg tries to submerge the Floating Island!
This is, of course, the Death Egg, Dr. Robotnik’s newest and most dangerous creation. After leaving his nephew and whimpering subordinate Snively in charge of overseeing Robotropolis’s reconstruction (a position he immediately and amusingly abuses), the cybernetic dictator revels in his glory as he powers up the Death Egg with the Magic Rings and prepares to use it to roboticise every living thing on the planet! However, while the Magic Rings ensure that the Death Egg is effectively invulnerable to external attack, Dr. Robotnik still needs a Chaos Emerald to bring the station to full power; additionally, he sucked up some unwanted additional weight that’s keeping it from reaching its proper orbit, but has no idea that Tails is in amongst the trees and debris. Thinking quickly, Tails jams himself into the discarded wreckage of a disobedient SWATbot so he can explore the space station undetected, while Sonic escapes the talons of the Condorbot and defies the laws of physics to pinball his way onto the Death Egg just as Tails jettisons the crap that was weighing it down. With the Death Egg scrambling their communications signal and the King’s condition worsening, Dr. Robotnik guides the Death Egg towards the Floating Island (as it was then known), which naturally attracts the attention of the island’s hot-headed guardian, Knuckles. Swooping up to intercept the Death Egg, Knuckles is hit by a laser blast from the satellite’s “eye”; luckily, this simply stuns him and he falls into the arms of his friends, the Chaotix (Mighty the Armadillo, Vector the Crocodile, Charmy Bee, Espio the Chameleon and…*sigh* Archimedes the Fire-Ant). The group watch as Dr. Robotnik drops a squadron of gigantic Burrobots to dig up the island’s Chaos Emeralds, which they race to stop to keep the island from plummeting from the sky. While the Chaotix attack the massive drilling mechs, Sonic tears his way through the Death Egg but arrives too late to keep Dr. Robotnik from ramming the satellite into the Floating Island! The Chaos Emerald is able to keep the island aloft, but the sheer weight and thrust of the Death Egg causes it to tip to one side and forces it into the sea below!
Thanks to repurposing Dr. Robotnik’s mechs, Sonic and Tails are able to destroy the Death Egg.
Naturally, Sonic leaps into action, only to end up attacking Tails by accident. To make matters worse, Dr. Robotnik shields himself from Sonic’s attack with a thick wall of plexiglass and then chokes him out with a spew of poisonous gas. Luckily, Tails recovers from his assault and uses his SWATbot suit to break through Dr. Robotnik’s defences and destroy his control panels, saving Sonic from suffocation and sending the satellite uncontrollably hurtling into space. Thanks to a “stabilising field” built into his “Gravi-Gauntlet”, Dr. Robotnik staves off the sudden drag of inertia and escapes to his auxiliary control room; he then sics a massive robotic Sonic doppelgänger on the two. While a far cry from his sleeker, more popular counterpart or even Sonic’s more versatile Mecha Sonic form, this “Silver Sonic” has the muscle and armour to shrug off Sonic’s attacks and manhandle (or should that be hoghandle?) him with punches, kicks, and slams but proves disappointingly susceptible to an electric shock from some conveniently-placed severed cables. Despite the failure of his Silver Sonic, Dr. Robotnik resorts to another back-up plan, donning his “most sophisticated battle armour ever”, the Eggs-O-Skeleton, which augments his physical strength by drawing power from the Death Egg itself! Sonic evens the odds by (…somehow…) commandeering Silver Sonic’s mechanical body and battling the rotund dictator on equal ground. The melee escalates but, ultimately, Sonic hurls Dr. Robotnik up through the ceiling and out of the Death Egg; during the fight, Tails was somehow able to rig the Death Egg to explode and the two beat a hasty retreat, swiping the stolen Magic Rings and making it safely to the surface before the Death Egg’s destruction (which, while somewhat anti-climactic on paper, is “seen and felt” all around the planet). While Snively faces the wrath of his uncle and master and the mad cyborg swears revenge upon Sonic and the Freedom Fighters, Sonic and Tails race back to Knothole to see if the Rings will cure the King, which is a plot thread left unresolved in this miniseries.
The Summary: As ever, one of the main appeals of Archie’s attempt at a Sonic 3 & Knuckles adaptation is the artwork; Archie Comics, especially at this time, did a great job of emulating the character designs and locations seen in SatAM, with Patrick “Spaz” Spaziante being their standout artist. Manny Galan is no slouch here, though, and there are times when his version of Sonic evokes the character’s more dynamic and streamlined Japanese presentation; Archie’s original characters, like St. John, don’t fare too well but SEGA’s characters all hold up quite nicely, though I’m not massively onboard with the artistic shortcuts taken to basically show Sonic and Knuckles flying simply because they need to get up to the Death Egg. Everything is still early Archie, though, meaning the Floating Island doesn’t look that great, the Death Egg has an ugly and needlessly “busy” design, and there’s an element of daft childishness in some areas as the comic still hadn’t quite shaken off the influences from SatAM’s more slapstick sister series. As if often the case, the first few pages are bogged down with recapping the events from previous issues and even prior Archie stories, but it’s not too invasive.
While there’s some decent build up to the Death Egg, it feels secondary to King Acorn’s plight.
The biggest issue with Sonic Quest is that it’s not much of an adaptation of Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Much like in their other videogame tie-ins and those seen in Fleetway’s publications over here in the UK, Archie’s writers pick and choose elements from the videogames to incorporate, almost as if they were drip-fed footage and details of SEGA’s upcoming games rather than being privy to full details ahead of time. Thus, elements of Sonic 3 & Knuckles are spread out across different stories and one-offs, such as introducing Knuckles and even the Chaotix before the Death Egg. While the Death Egg is at the centre of Sonic Quest, it’s not really the narrative focus; the satellite doesn’t appear until the end of issue one and is destroyed before it can really do anything other than steal some Magic Rings, blast Knuckles, and almost submerge the Floating Island. On the plus side, the story does a great job of building the threat of the Death Egg; hiding it, seeing it on computer monitors, and especially the “eclipse” sequence all add to the anticipation of the space station’s big reveal and it’s portrayed (on paper) as being a serious threat as it’s allegedly capable of roboticising the entire planet. However, since it lacks a Chaos Emerald, it cannot actually do this and it’s one attack is enough to simply stun Knuckles, significantly diminishing its menace. I think the story would have benefitted from being five or even six issues long and seeing Dr. Robotnik successfully attack the Floating Island with the battleship and steal a Chaos Emerald to robotoicise large areas of Mobius, which would have greatly raised the stakes of the narrative.
Things pick up when Silver Sonic appears but the story wastes a lot of its more interesting elements.
As presented, Sonic Quest doesn’t even require Sonic to begrudgingly join forces with his hot-headed rival; Knuckles’ involvement is more of a glorified cameo and, while he and the Chaotix do fend off the gigantic Burrobots, he does nothing to help destroy the Death Egg. Indeed, since Sonic and Tails do all the work from inside the space station and sabotage its controls, there was never any danger of Dr. Robotnik acquiring a Chaos Emerald so Knuckles could’ve been entirely absent from the story. Additionally, we don’t really get a sense of the interior of the Death Egg; we only see a few corridors and rooms, with the bulk of the story taking place in a confined control room, and the main concern of the plot is more about getting the Magic Rings to cure King Acorn, with the Death Egg presented as more of an inconvenience since that’s where the Rings are being held. Things pick up a bit once Dr. Robotnik unleashes Silver Sonic but, while I enjoyed this fight and the artwork here, this mechanical monstrosity is defeated with a ridiculous amount of ease, exhibits no personality, and is somehow easily controlled by Sonic after it’s defeated. Even the showdown between Sonic and Dr. Robotnik ends up being quite disappointing; not only is Dr. Robotnik’s Eggs-O-Skeleton a weak design and a poor substitute for his more imposing Death Egg Robot, we never get a sense of what he’s capable of while wearing it beyond “being stronger” and he’s easily trounced by Sonic piloting the remains of Silver Sonic. There’s almost an intriguing element to this in the panels where Sonic is so fixated on ending Dr. Robotnik that he briefly considers risking his life, but it’s swept under the rug by a quick word from Tails and wouldn’t really resurface until the comic’s fiftieth issue. In the end, this was an enjoyable three-issue adventure; the art is good, the writing isn’t too hammy, and there’s some fun visuals whenever the Death Egg is looming over the Floating Island. However, it just reads like another Archie Sonic adventure; the Death Egg should’ve been a massive event, one stretching across multiple issues, but just comes across as another of Dr. Robotnik’s many maniacal schemes. As soon as we see it, it’s destroyed without really doing anything except threatening the Floating Island, something easily solved by Tails being a bit trigger happy, and there’s never a sense that this is truly the final victory for Dr. Robotnik in his war against the furries. It’s a shame, really, as this could’ve been a great way to build bridges between Sonic and Knuckles or even have the Chaotix team up with the Freedom Fighters, but it just comes across as a throwaway tie-in with little impact on the ongoing narrative beyond finding a cure for the King.
My Rating:
⭐⭐
Rating: 2 out of 5.
Could Be Better
Did you enjoy Sonic Quest? Did you collect the miniseries when it first released or, like me, did you pick it up in a later collection? What did you think to the depiction of the Death Egg? Do you agree that it was neutered compared to the videogames or were you impressed with its appearance? Were you disappointed that Sonic and Knuckles didn’t team up to fight at and by how easily it was brought down? What did you think to Silver Sonic and Dr. Robotnik’s Eggs-O-Skeleton armour? Which of Archie’s videogame tie-ins was your favourite? How are you celebrating the anniversary of Sonic 3’s release today? Please feel free to share your memories of Archie’s Sonic comics and Sonic 3 & Knuckles below or on my social media.
January sees the celebration of two notable dates in science-fiction history, with January 2 christened “National Science Fiction Day” to coincide with the birth date of the world renowned sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov, and HAL 9000, the sophisticated artificial intelligence of Arthur C. Clarke’s seminal 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), being created on 12 January. This year, however, I’ve been spending every Thursday of January celebrating sci-fi’s toughest lawman, Judge Joseph Dredd!
Released: 16 June 1995 Developer: Probe Software Also Available For: Game Boy, Game Gear, PC/MS-DOS, and Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
A Brief Background: Still published to this day, British science-fiction comic book 2000 AD first appeared in February 1977 and, in March of that same year, introduced readers to the uncompromising lawman of the future, Judge Joseph Dredd. Created of John Wagner, Carlos Ezquerra, and Pat Mills, Dredd became one of the most popular and iconic British comic book characters of all time. Accordingly, the character has expanded beyond the comic book panels and into the realms of videogames on more than on occasion; his first videogame outing was a largely repetitive platform shooter, a concept expanded upon by its bigger, more graphically impressive Amiga follow-up. Dredd’s relationship with videogames is largely considered to be hit and miss but, when the time finally came for the character to make the jump to the silver screen, an adaptation was put into development. While the movie would become a notoriousbox office bomb, developers Probe Software sought to be as faithful to the production as possible by digitising the film sets to be featured as locations in the game, however their efforts resulted in mixed-to-negative reviews across the board. While some reviews praised the gameplay and fidelity to the source material, others criticised the difficulty and lack of variety, and the game failed to make a lasting impression regardless of which system it was played.
First Impressions: Judge Dredd is a 2D, sidescrolling run-and-gun that, for the most part, emulates the plot and visual aesthetic of the bombastic movie. Players assume the role of Judge Dredd (whose sprite more resembles his comic book counterpart than Sylvester Stallone’s look from the film) and play through twelve stages taking out street punks, mutants, and even Dredd’s fellow Judges just like in the movie. Players are given three lives to start with and can collect more by picking up extra life icons, and each stage has a primary a secondary objective, both of which are relayed to the player using sprite art modelled from scenes of the film and traditional text. Primary objectives range from destroying ammo supplies, locating Dredd’s mentor, Judge Fargo, reaching the council in the Hall of Justice, and defeating specific enemies. Secondary objectives appear to be option, but you must complete the primary objective in order to exit the current stage, something which can prove problematic given how maze-like and strangely designed many of the game’s stages are.
Though often cluttered, the game certainly makes an effort to marry the visuals of the film and comic book.
Judge Dredd is armed with his trust Lawgiver; tapping or holding the A button will see Dredd fire a variety of shots, from unlimited regular bullets to heat-seekers, grenades, and missiles, and you can even hold down the button to fire uninterrupted. Dredd can also sprint by tapping the directional pad (D-pad), and shoot while running, jumping, and crouching, and in all directions (including diagonally!) Although some objectives tell you not to shoot certain enemies, you’re free to be as trigger happy as you like; however, you’ll score more points if you use Dredd’s melee skills (A up close or X if you have a six-button controller) to disarm and arrest perps when “GUILTY” appears over their head. Dredd can jump with B and even fly about for a few seconds if you find an Anti-Grav Belt; you’ll be doing a fair amount of platforming but Dredd can’t jump very high so you’ll often need to make use of ladders, monkey along overhead lines, or even a running jump to reach new areas. Dredd can also crawl about, push some objects, and access terminals to see his current mission progression and health and ammo stats or lock doors in certain stages. Dredd controls quite well but is a bit clunky; pressing up will scroll the screen, which can be disorientating, and there’s a few too many frames of animation at times, meaning there is often a delay between button presses. Dredd is quite sturdy but can replenish his health with small and large hearts, pick up additional ammo, or even grab a temporary forcefield and invincibility to help even the odds.
There’s some variety on display in the different Dredd’s objectives and gameplay mechanics.
After completing each stage, you’re given a score tally and a password to help you skip ahead; while there don’t appear to be any useful passwords for this version of the game, such as infinite health or ammo, it is a handy feature to pick up where you left off or try out different missions. In my case, this is almost mandatory; it took quit a bit of trial and error to complete even the first stage as you can get stuck in an area with no way back. While Dredd will nip up on the spot after being killed, it’s quite easy to get stuck as ladders and hazards aren’t always immediately visible, and while you can duck and shoot most enemies, you’ll be majorly outclassed by the wild mutants in the Cursed Earth and the Atomic, Bacterial, and Chemical Warriors (A.B.C. Warriors) you’re tasked with destroying later on. The game certainly looks good; sprites are a bit small but Dredd has some fun idle animations, such as twirling his gun and cleaning his badge (there’s even a little squeak-squeak sound effect), and there’s some splashes of blood when you off enemies. The environments are visually very faithful to the movie, including trucks, futuristic skyscrapers, and the Statue of Liberty as in the film, but can be cluttered and a little too large for their own good. Gameplay is somewhat broken up by one stage that has you flying through the skies on your Lawmaster while fending off pursuing Judges (Herman Fergusson/Fergee fires at the rear while Dredd fires ahead) and by the fact that some enemies will be possessed by the four Dark Judges; you’ll know when they are as they’ll have an aura about them and a spirit will fly out that you can catch for bonus points if you have some Boing ammo.
My Progression: Judge Dredd is a surprisingly tough game; at first, it reminded me of classic run-and-guns like Turrican (Factor 5, et al, 1990) or Duke Nukem (Apogee Software, 1991), especially with the placement of the heads-up display and dystopian, sci-fi setting. Seconds into the first stage, I hit a literal wall and had to think for a minute as the ladder I needed was so difficult to see and things only got more confusing from there; vents randomly damage you, trash falls from above, and you can’t even step in a small puddle of water in the Cursed Earth without taking damage. Just destroying the ammo crates in the first stage is a chore as they can only be destroyed by your explosive weapons and you need to explore the stage in a specific way so you don’t miss any and get stuck. Rather than running past terminals in Aspen, you need to access them to initiate the lockdown procedure, and enemies can take a few shots before they go down even before the clunky A.B.C. Warriors enter the picture. It appears that most stages end with a boss battle, too; the first is a guy who looked a lot like DC Comic’s James Harper/Guardian and who constantly blocks your shots with his shield while firing at you with a machine gun, tossing Molotov Cocktails, launching an almost unavoidable energy wave, or bashing your head in when you get close. You can use nearby barrels for cover but he absorbs shots like a sponge and the timing required to jump and duck under his shots meant that I couldn’t actually beat him!
Sadly, the game’s difficulty meant I couldn’t get very far and I wasn’t motivated to skip ahead much further.
Using a password, I jumped to stage two and fared much better n the Aspen Penal Colony. There’s some neat effects on the waters of the sewer area and I was actually able to beat the stage the boss, a brute with a big club who rides an elevator that he tries to crush you with, tosses grenades and Molotov cocktails, and smacks you silly up close. It was a slog, but I did beat him, but I couldn’t get past the Cursed Earth for the life of me. Here, the mutated inhabitants live in the ruins of society and Judge Hunters patrol the wooden walkways, but the leaps of faith and confusing level layout got the better of me. I skipped ahead to the Hall of Justice and that wasn’t a problem, nor was the chase on the Lawmaster, but the A.B.C. Warriors stomping about on the construction site around the Statue of Liberty were enough to have me calling it quits. They’re immune to your regular shot, so you’ll need a healthy supply of missiles or other explosives, but their missiles and the stage’s bottomless pits were the last straw for me. it was a bit of a shame as the game’s layout and objectives actually got easier the deeper I got and, from what I can see, there’s a bit of a post-game that looks right up my alley. After dealing with Dredd’s psycho clone brother, Rico, players head to Deadworld, an alternative dimension where all life was deemed a crime, to do battle with Dredd’s reaper-like spectral counterpart, Judge Death! I could’ve used passwords to jump ahead to this point but I decided that enough was enough, but I am impressed that a videogame adaptation from this time actually expanded on the film; the game does a decent job of following the movie’s narrative but infuses it with more elements from the source material, including my favourite Dredd antagonists, the Dark Judges, which is pretty rare for a game of this era in my experience.
I wasn’t really sure what to expect from Judge Dredd; videogame adaptations of movies tended to be more hit than miss back in the 16-bit games, at least in my experience, but sadly there were some issues here that kept me from really enjoying the experience. Visually, the game is both impressive, bland, and confusing all at the same time; the horizon and backgrounds aren’t always very detailed but the foregrounds are almost too detailed, making things a bit cluttered and messy at times. Dredd looks great and plays okay, but I find it amusing that the developers included the ability to arrest people when Dredd is far more likely to just sentence criminals to death for even more infractions. Since the game doesn’t really penalise you if you kill everyone, I recommend taking a traditional run-and-gun approach, especially as you’ll be distracted by vague objectives and the maze-like areas. Overall, it was a mediocre experience, one that I struggled to get through thanks to the difficulty spike and clunky presentation. It’s a shame as I feel the concept could have legs if it was more like Contra (Konami, 1986) or Metal Slug (Nazca Corporation, 1996) and leaned more into arcade-style action rather than tedious exploration. Still, maybe I’m being too harsh? Maybe you actually enjoyed the gameplay on offer here? Perhaps you prefer one of the movie’s other ports or a different Judge Dredd game entirely? Either way, I’d love to hear about it so leave a comment below or on my social media and be sure to check out my other Judge Dredd content.
Released: 17 March 2023 Director: James Wan Distributor: Warner Brothers Budget: $205 million Stars: Jason Momoa, Patrick Wilson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Randall Park, Temuera Morrison, and Amber Heard
The Plot: Desperate to find the means to avenge himself against Arthur Curry/Aquaman (Momoa), pirate David Kane/Black Manta (Abdul-Mateen II) stumbles upon the mythical Black Trident, which possesses him and compels him to unleash an ancient threat so powerful Aruthur is forced to join forces with his deposed brother, Orm Marius (Wilson).
The Review: I was pleasantly surprised by Aquaman; it was big, colourful, mindless fun in an era when the DCEU was unnecessarily dark and bleak, and it altered Aquaman’s characterisation in a way that made him so much more entertaining and relatable. Jason Momoa attacks the role with such relish and natural charisma that it’s easy to overlook flaws in logic or pacing, and that same charm returns in this sequel. Of course, it helps that he’s disgustingly good looking and absolutely shredded, but Momoa’s Aquaman has the kind of Dude/Bro mentality and whimsical childishness that really brings a smile to my face. In this film, a lot has changed for the slovenly brute who once shunned humanity and responsibility; he’s now the King of Atlantis, doting father to Arthur Junior (Various), and loving husband to Y’Mera Xebella Challa (Heard). First, let’s address the elephant in the room: yes, Mera is in this movie but no, she does not have much of a role. In fact, given all the controversy surrounding Amber Heard, I was expecting Mera to be killed off and it does seem like that almost happened; instead, she’s merely severely wounded by Black Manta and taken out of the second act of the movie, only to make a minor reappearance at the end to help Arthur and Orm and get the baby to safety. I can fully understand this, and it’s not like her presence is really missed; she still impresses in her skin-tight outfit and gets to show off her hydrokinetic powers, but the plot doesn’t require her presence and it’s better she was given less prominence considering everything that happened. Interestingly, much of her character development from the first film is repeated with Orm; he’s prejudiced against the surface world like Mera was, confused by their words and ways, and slowly comes to enjoy some of our customs by the movie’s end, though these lessons are reframed in the context of Arthur encouraging a stronger bond between them and him pulling pranks on his relatively naïve younger brother by tricking him into thinking cockroaches are a delicacy!
Now a father dissatisfied with the crown, Arthur teams up with his brother to face a powerful threat.
So, there’s not much focus on the romance here; even Arthur’s father, lighthouse keeper Tom (Morrison) and Queen Atlanna (Nicole Kidman) don’t share a scene together until the start of the third act, and Arthur’s initial conversations with his father even somewhat imply that Atlanna is dead. She’s not, but her role here is equally minimal and simply the catalyst to unite her two estranged sons into joining forces. Instead, we’re left with Arthur, but that’s more than enough! Despite his big victory in the first film, Arthur is bored by the crown, his duties, and the endless politics of the Atlantean council, which handicap him with bureaucracy. A child of both worlds, he spends as much time out of the sea as he does in it to care for his son, something with many of his kingdom resent, and his desire to reveal Atlantis to the surface world and work with them to reduce pollution and climate change are continuously shot down. Frustrated by self-doubt about his role as a leader, Arthur is almost giddy when David Kane returns armed with a powerful trident of his own and wielding forgotten Atlantean technology. Kane’s plot to steal Atlantis’s highly volatile stockpiles of Orichalcum and exacerbate the heating of the world (which also causes a deadly plague to kill many Atlanteans, including Arthur’s mentor, Nuidis Vulko (Willem Dafoe), between movies) causes Arthur great distress. With no way of tracking Black Manta, Arthur enlists the help of King Nereus (Dolph Lundgren) and Topo the octopus to sneak into the desert prion where Orm is held captive and enlist his help since he’s the only one who may be able to lead them to Kane. Arthur jumps at the chance for some action, even if it risks all-out war breaking out, as he’s desperate to get into the thick of it again, to say nothing of trying to connect with his brother and settle the score with his old rival.
Orm is disgusted by his brother’s childishness but proves surprisingly trustworthy.
This dysfunctional dynamic is where the heart of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom lies, and where much of its entertainment value comes from. Emaciated from his time in prison and embittered by his brutish brother’s lack of decorum when it comes to the throne, Orm is depicted as a conniving, untrustworthy bigot who lusts for power. Yet he agrees to help Arthur, and even stats he will willingly return to custody afterwards, out of loyalty to Atlantis, and never misses an opportunity to chastise his brother’s buffoonery and overreliance on his muscles. Orm emits a more stately persona, attempting to use diplomacy rather than brute force; he’s able to lead them to an underwater den of debauchery and an aquatic crime boss, the appropriately named Kingfish (Martin Short), to get information on Black Manta’s location and even drops condescending advice to Arthur about what it means to be a king. The banter and bickering between Arthur and Orm is great; Orm is visibly disgusted by his older brother, and the humiliation he felt at his hands, while Arthur tries to win him over with his boisterous personality and surface world benefits such as beer and cheeseburgers. Although King Nereus cautions about trusting Orm, the former Ocean Master proves surprisingly reliable; he never runs from a fight, doesn’t attempt to kill or sell out Arthur, and doesn’t even show envy at learned Arthur married Mera. Although it seems like Orm is happy to leave King Nereus to die, he saves the king and earns his respect in the process, and even readily joins Arthur in battling Black Manta when he could easily slip away and let them kill each other. Orm proves equally invaluable in delivering exposition about the Black Trident and the titular lost kingdom of Necrus, though the two brothers are briefly set against each other in the finale when Orm claims the Black Trident and briefly falls under its malicious sway.
Possessed and empowered by the Black Trident, Black Manta’s threat is significantly increased,
Established in the first film as a vengeful, sadistic mercenary, David Kane has become obsessed with discovering the secrets of Atlantis so he can repair his Black Manta suit and avenge himself on Aquaman. Kane’s fascination with Atlantis is shared by his reluctant scientific advisor, Doctor Stephen Shin (Park), who’s longing to see Atlantis is manipulated by Kane into helping him figure out Necrus’s ancient weapons. Once he finds the Black Trident, Kane is bombarded with visions, promises of power, and a superhuman lust to free the imprisoned King Kordax (Pilou Asbæk), who’s dark magic slowly infests Black Manta and drives him to the brink of insanity. Even Orm is stunned to learn of Black Manta’s newfound viciousness, which sees him threaten the entire world with climate instability simply for the sake of it rather than for any kind of ransom, and Kordax’s influence means Black Manta can now go toe-to-toe with both Aquaman and Orm without his power suit. However, he still utilises his technology, blasting his enemies with beams of intense energy and combines both science and magic (and a massive disrupter cannon on a repurposed Necrus ship) to showcase his new might. Black Manta’s need to awaken King Kordax and his list for revenge are so powerful that he targets Arthur’s family, critically wounding Mera and Tom and even kidnapping his son with the intention of using his blood to destroy the magic seal imprisoning the undead king. As for King Kordax, he’s more of an ethereal spirit, a ghastly skeletal wraith who whispers in Kane’s ear, possesses any who touch the Black Trident, and formally commanded a legion of undead warriors in battle against his brother, King Atlan (Vincent Regan). Desperate to return to unlife once more, he feeds the ego of whoever wields the Black Trident, compelling them to spill the blood of Atlan’s bloodline so that he and his army can ransack the entire globe!
The Nitty-Gritty: Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom charts the natural next chapter in Arthur’s story; this loveable manchild feels increasing pressure on all sides to grow up and be more responsible as a husband, father, and leader, roles that he attacks with his usual juvenile vigour but which he finds himself questioning at times. Though devoted to his family, he finds the politics of the crown tedious and expresses dissatisfaction with the role, which he only fulfils out of obligation to his mother and his people. There’s no question that he’s a good father (indeed, Tom encourages Arthur to have more children!) or that he wants what’s best for Atlantis, but he desires a worldwide unity that the council aren’t willing to risk and struggles to balance both sides of his life. These issues are explored through his tumultuous relationship with Orm; both were denied a childhood together and are wary, if not frustrated, by each other, with only their love for Atlanna and Atlantis keeping their fragile alliance alive throughout most of the film. They’re two halves of the same coin, though, and both learn a lot from the other; Arthur learns more about what it takes to be a king and Orm learns to not be such a dick and enjoy other cultures. However, while they’re one of the best parts of the film, I would’ve liked to see a little more of this; perhaps a scene or two where Orm does abandon Arthur, or one where Arthur’s knowledge of the surface world helps Orm, or seeing Orm’s stoic disdain crack upon learning that he’s an uncle. The galvanising love show to them both by Atlan helps fill these gaps, as does the presence of King Nereus and the Brine King (John Rhys-Davies), who have their own issues with Orm, but it does feel like some scenes were left on the cutting room floor to keep the pace up.
The visuals and costumes continue to impress, and the fight are more personal this time.
Not that that’s a bad thing; Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom has a very brisk pace that doesn’t waste too much time, but it’s also learned to not interrupt every character moment with a dramatic explosion (there’s even a tongue-in-cheek reference to that at one point. The underwater realms are as captivating as ever, being a neon-drenched wonderland of strange, almost monstrous undersea races and futuristic technology alongside rusted apparatus and long forgotten ancient ruins. Aquaman’s ridiculously good orange/gold armour returns, looking better than ever, and he even gets a sleek, form-fitting black/blue suit and makes him invisible for a few moments at a time, perfect for sneaking into the arid desert prion and battling the dried-out, horrifying guards who dwell there. Although Orm is shafted in the costume department this time around, Mera still catches the eye in her tight little number and Black Manta steals every scene in his ludicrous saucer-like helmet. The fight sequences are much more intense this time, too; moving away from full-scale undersea battles to focus on gritty melee combat, the fights between Aquaman and Black Manta are great now that Kane has received a power boost and is a significant threat able to hideously burn even Atlantean flesh. There are a fair few visually interesting locations on offer as well, from the throne room and market square of Atlantis to the scorching desert and the overgrown, hazardous forest on Black Manta’s island (complete with volcano lair) thanks to the presence of polluting Orichalcum. A fair bit of the film involves ice and frozen locations, too, with Necrus and his army encased in an icy tomb, but overall I found the CGI and action sequences to be really well done; perhaps a bit less bombastic at times, but the focus on crafting meaningful fight scenes benefitted the plot greatly, I feel.
Arthur and Orm come together to defeat Black Manta and repair their relationship.
Despite working surprisingly well as a team, Arthur and Orm are unable to defeat Black Manta; they disrupt his operation, with the help of the remorseful Dr. Shin, but find Kane is willing to sacrifice Arthur Junior to set King Kordax free, leading to a more concentrated assault against Black Manta and the quickly rising undead army of the entrapped king. Determined to save his son, Aquaman battles Black Manta once more, only to find Kane has been fully overtaken by the malicious Kordax. Luckily, Mera and Orm are both on hand to get the baby to safety, but Orm falls under Kordax’s spell when saving Mera and his nephew from certain death. Although it seems like the two brothers are about to fight once more, Arthur tries a different approach, one influenced by his time with Orm and his desire to build bridges between them. Instead of fighting, Arthur also grabs the Black Trident and tries to reason with his brother, with both struggling against Kordax’s influence, and successfully talks Orm down. Orm then provides Arthur with the means to destroy the awakened undead king and finally acknowledges him as his brother in the aftermath, where all involved agree to say that Orm perished in the battle as thanks for his help. With Orm out exploring the surface world for the first time, Arthur makes the decision to finally reveal Atlantis to humanity, directly addressing the United Nations and calling for a global effort in reversing the damage done to the environment and thus ending the DCEU on a surprisingly hopeful message. Sure, the climate change aspects of the film are a little ham-fisted, but I think they’re to be expected in an Aquaman story, especially as suspicion of humankind is such a prominent aspect of the mistreated Atlanteans.
The Summary: I was excited for an Aquaman sequel; I’ve loved Jason Momoa in the role right from the start and really enjoyed the first film, so it bugged me that Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom was delayed and pushed back and mired in controversy and said to be awful. It really isn’t, to be fair; it’s not as good as the first (though repeated viewings may change that opinion) but it’s not an incomprehensible mess, an ugly noise of awful CGI, or a lacklustre bore-fest either. It’s a fun, thrilling, and surprisingly intense adventure; Black Manta’s vendetta against Aquaman is deeply personal, as are the issues between Arthur and Orm, and the performances of those three actors really sell that. Kane is a cold-blooded, merciless pirate who blood on his mind; Orm is a bitter and resentful fallen king; and Arthur is just trying to do the right thing but struggling with his suitability to the throne. While the actors all do a fantastic job of embodying their roles, the visual effects are absolutely top-notch; I love seeing these characters come to life, Atlantis is a gorgeous undersea society, and the various dishevelled ruins and repurposed technology really give a sense of scale and time to this world. The bickering between Arthur and Orm more than makes up for Mera’s dramatically reduced role and makes this more of a dysfunctional buddy comedy at times, but the more personal and fierce fight sequences are just as appealing to me. It’s shame that the DCEU died out so quickly; I don’t relish having to restart Aquaman’s story and find a new actor for the role, but at least we have these two movies to show us what the character is capable of in the right hands. Ultimately, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom may not be the best DCEU or superhero movie you’ll ever see, but I think it’s definitely high in the ranks and worth your time for the lead actor alone, but there’s plenty to enjoy beyond that if you’re simply looking for a fun and surprisingly intense action film.
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Great Stuff
Did you enjoy Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom? How do you think it compares against the first film and other DCEU movies? Did you enjoy Jason Momoa’s performance and Arthur’s relationship with Orm? Were you glad that Arthur Junior was spared the fate of his comic book counterpart? What did you think to Black Manta and his newfound power boost? Were you annoyed by the climate change plot, or did you find it suitable for the film? Who would you like to see portray Aquaman in James Gunn’s new DC Universe? Whatever your thoughts on Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, and Aquaman in general, drop a comment below or on my social media.
Released: 15 July 1988 Director: John McTiernan Distributor: 20th Century Fox Budget: $25 to 35 million Stars: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald VelJohnson, Paul Gleason, and William Atherton
The Plot: New York City police detective John McClane (Willis) arrives at the Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles to reconcile with his estranged wife, Holly Gennero-McClane (Bedelia). Things quickly turn south when Hans Gruber (Rickman) and his gang of terrorists take the building hostage, leaving McClane to wage a one-man war.
The Background In 1979, writer Roderick Thorp published a sequel to his 1966 thriller, The Detective; inspired byThe Towering Inferno (Guillermin, 1974), Nothing Lasts Forever was well-received and soon shopped around Hollywood, with Thorp hoping Frank Sinatra would reprise his role from the adaptation of The Detective (Douglas, 1968). Instead, the concept ended up in the hands of struggling screenwriter Jeb Stuart, who was given free reign as long as he retained the Christmas-in-Los-Angeles setting. Drawing from personal experiences with married life, Stuart reimagined Thorp’s aging detective, Joe Leland, into a flawed everyman, though remained largely faithful to the spirit of the source material. After Sinatra turned down the lead role, the project was offered to some of Hollywood’s biggest action stars, including Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone, before Bruce Willis (then known more for his comedic efforts) was cast as the wisecracking John McClane and subsequently redefined not only his career, but the portrayal of action heroes in general. Die Hard was the silver screen debut for the late, great Alan Rickman, who was won over by the wit and intelligence of the script and even had some creative input on his character thanks to his theatre background. Screenwriter Steven E. de Souza came onboard for a rewrite, which framed the narrative as though Hans Gruber were the protagonist, though director John McTiernan allowed Willis and the other actors room to improvise during the shoot, which was based almost entirely in and around the Fox Plaza in Central City. Willis performed many of his own stunts, suffering partial hearing loss as a result; the stunts were dangerous and complex for cast and crew alike, though McTiernan couldn’t resist dropping Rickman early to produce a genuine look of fear for Gruber’s fall. In defiance of low expectations, Die Hard was a massive financial success, making around $140 million at the box office, revitalising both 20th Century Fox and the action genre. Although initial reviews were mixed, praising the direction and stunts but questioning Willis’s performance, the film was seen as a breakout role for the actor, one that redefined the action hero stereotype into a more vulnerable and snarky tough guy. After proving to be equally popular on home video, this success naturally translated into a sequel two years later, a venture that proved even more profitable and led to an entire franchise of additional sequels, videogames, and ancillary media of varying quality that nonetheless cemented Willis’s status as a smart-mouthed action hero.
The Review: Believe it or not, but there was a time when I wasn’t much of a Die Hard fan. Despite growing up on action movies, specifically those starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, kid me always found Die Hard to be a little too slow and “grown up” compared to the Austrian Oak’s films. Eventually, however, I grew up a bit and did a binge watch of the then-trilogy of Die Hard films and realised what I’d been missing out on. Specifically, Bruce Willis establishing himself as a mainstream action icon with these films, in particular this first Die Hard movie, which is still the undeniable best of a surprisingly strong action franchise. McClane separates himself from his action movie counterparts by being the quintessential “Everyman”; he’s physically fit, yes, but not some musclebound brute and he’s far from invincible, gradually becoming more injured and fatigued as the movie goes on. He’s easy to relate to because he’s a very flawed character; his marriage is on the rocks, he’s seen as insubordinate and a liability by his peers, he makes mistakes, and he’s forced to adapt, always one wrong move away from certain death. This is in stark contrast to the likes of Schwarzenegger and Stallone; while they have certainly portrayed more grounded, vulnerable, and human characters, they’re best known for being virtually unstoppable and overcoming the odds through sheer brute force, whereas McClane has to use his wits, cunning, and sheer force of will to triumph.
Smart-mouthed John McClane is the only man tenacious enough to rescue the terrified hostages.
John McClane is portrayed very much as a fish out of water since he is both a New York City cop in the unfamiliar surroundings of Los Angeles and a rugged working man amidst a skyscraper full of well-heeled business types. Although rough around the edges, he’s treated warmly and with respect by Joseph Takagi (James Shigeta) and invited to join the Nakatomi Christmas party, but he’s focused solely on reconnecting with Holly, who has managed to build a successful career for herself without McClane, much to his chagrin. While he’s clearly still in love with her and wants to build bridges, if only for the sake of their young children, McClane is handicapped by a natural immaturity that causes only further arguments rather than him simply admitting to his mistakes. A career cop, McClane is always taking in his surroundings and has a suspicious nature that allows him to separate bullshitters like Harry Ellis (Hart Bochner) from the honest, like Argyle (De’voreaux White), his overly chatting limo driver. This talent goes hand in hand with his adaptability and stubborn nature, from which the film takes its title; though outnumbered and outgunned and definitely in way over his head, McClane keeps his wits about him and is always trying to find some way to get help or pick off his assailants and is intuitive enough to assess the threat posed by the terrorists based on their accents, firearms, and tactics. Basically caught with his pants down, McClane finds himself the only one capable of raising the alarm when Hans Gruber and his goons take over the tower, executing Takagi and taking his employees hostage while they work on breaking into the vault. Outnumbered, outgunned, and without even his shoes, McClane’s first instinct is to call for help, only to be repeatedly met with scepticism, endangering himself and forcing him to flee or fight, with tenacity in equal measure. Though armed only with his service pistol, McClane soon acquires a machine gun (“Ho-ho-ho”), but it’s not enough to tackle Gruber head-on. Instead, McClane fights with a brutal and rabid animal spirit; often physically outmatched by his foes, he takes quite a beating in every encounter and only emerges victorious due to his stubborn nature or taking risks that further damage his body, slicing his feet on glass shards, tumbling down stairs, getting shot, crawling through ventilation ducts, and defying physics and death alike with a desperate leap from the rooftop with only a firehose as a lifeline!
McClane’s only ally and supporter in rescuing his equally spirited estranged wife is Powell.
If anyone knows about McClane’s stubborn nature, it’s his wife, Holly. A driven and determined career woman, Holly moved to Los Angeles with their kids to make a go out of it in the corporate world and, despite McClane’s doubts (and hopes), actually succeeded in her new role. Though warm, kind, and friendly, Holly is sick of McClane’s thick-headed ways and bullish nature; she has no problem calling him out or standing up to him and just wants to be treated with some respect. Although he knows what he needs to do to repair their relationship, McClane struggles to express himself and often falls back on accusations and jealousy, widening the gap between them. When she’s taken hostage, Holly remains calm and composed but brings the same fiery energy when she’s forced to speak up for her fellow colleagues in place of Takagi; even Gruber comments on her dependable and forthright nature, which helps her act as a mediator between the groups in a far more effective way than her coked-up colleague, Ellis. When she learns that McClane is at large in the building and causing Gruber trouble, Holly begins to hope; despite their differences, she knows that McClane will fight to the bitter end to get the job done, but even she is shocked by the state he’s in by the end. While Los Angeles’ finest are often more of a hinderance than help to the fatigued and aggravated McClane, his most vocal supporter outside of the tower is Sergeant Al Powell (VelJohnson), a Twinkie-loving father to be who’s struggling with guilt after accidentally shooting a kid. Alerted to gunfire and a disturbance at Nakatomi Plaza, Powell is horrified by what’s happening inside. Going with his gut, Powell becomes McClane’s primary contact, much to the ire of Deputy Chief Dwayne T. Robinson (Gleason). While Robinson believes McClane is as much of a problem as the terrorists, if not one of them, and prefers to go by the book and suck up to Agent Johnson and Johnson (Robert Davi and Grand L. Bush) of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Powell is much more “boots on the ground” and helps McClane stay sane and motivated and to stop and think about the big picture regarding the takeover.
McClane feels very unappreciated by the bureaucraticand arrogant pen-pushers on the outside.
Although he means well, Robinson is clearly not used to being in the field; he refuses to listen to McClane’s warnings and outright criticises his attempts to help and desperately tries to negotiate with Gruber, completely oblivious to the fact that he’s being played for a fool. When the LAPD’s Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team try to storm the tower by force, he witnesses a taste of Gruber’s firepower when Gruber’s men shoot out their spotlights and destroy the armoured transport vehicle (APV) with a rocket launcher. Rather than thank McClane for his assistance, which sees him kill several of Gruber’s men with a hastily-constructed bomb, Robinson chastises him for damaging the building, but even his ineffectual nature pales in comparison to the arrogant and self-righteous FBI agents. Even Powell can see that the FBI are just like Robinson, working from a checklist and foolishly believing that they’re in charge of the situation without realising that they’re just expediating Gruber’s plan and causing unnecessary danger. Indeed, the agents are so arrogant that they personally accompany the helicopters to retrieve the hostages, relishing the chance to kick some ass and paying the ultimate price for it when they’re caught in an explosion, despite McClane’s best efforts to ward them off (which almost get him killed!) As if that wasn’t bad enough, snivelling reporter Richard Thornburg (Atherton) learns of the commotion and forces himself into the investigation, doing a deep dive on McClane and his family in order to advance his career. This directly impacts the finale when Gruber learns of Holly’s connection to McClane from Thornburg’s invasive and wholly inappropriate report, which see her kids and family plastered all over the media. This is enough to earn him her undying wrath and she gives him a good sock to the jaw after finally being rescued, proving that her drive to protect her family is just as strong as her husband’s.
Composed psychopath Hans and his goons are riled up by McClane’s cowboy vendetta.
So, to say McClane is against the odds is putting it mildly. With only a single security guard on duty, he has no backup inside the building against Gruber’s heavily armed and physically imposing forces. McClane immediately antagonises Gruber’s most brutish henchman, Karl Vreski (Alexander Godunov), after he kills Karl’s brother, Tony (Andreas Wisniewski), in a brutal scuffle. A cold-blooded and merciless killer, Karl swears revenge and his burning need to kill McClane sees him disregard Gruber’s orders, warn his allies not to rob him of his quarry, and ends with him hanging from a chain, seemingly dead because of his vendetta. Gruber’s other most notable ally is Theo (Clarence Gilyard), the group’s wisecracking and enthusiastic tech specialist who happily applies his skills to cracking Takgaki’s safe, seeing it as a personal challenge, and directs his allies in fending off the SWAT team, laughing with glee at how outmatched the LAPD are against their firepower and his intellect. And then there’s Hans himself, a smooth talking, eloquent, unnervingly polite terrorist who commands not just the respect and loyalty of his crew but the attention of every room and scene he’s in. While he’s a reasonable man, Gruber is as psychotic as his underlings when pushed; he thinks nothing of executing Takagi and Ellis and is fully prepared to kill everyone in the building to pull off his heist, despite agreeing to Holly’s terms to treat the hostages humanely. Although positioned and selling himself as a revolutionary terrorist fighting against oppression, he’s actually little more than a common thief as his goal is to steal $640 million in untraceable bearer bonds from Takagi’s vault and abscond to a faraway beach, free from persecution thanks to his elaborate and well-executed plan. While he’s largely the commanding voice of reason and directs his men to focus on the big picture, such as retrieving his C4 explosives rather than wasting time and energy hunting McClane, he didn’t factor a lone New York cop into his schemes and his demeanour noticeably becomes more frustrated the more his operation is scuppered by this smart-mouthed “cowboy”. Gruber even comes face to face with McClane at one point when looking for his detonators and gains a deeper understanding about his foe; though Gruber’s accent and charade are good, McClane shows he’s more than a meathead by seeing through the act, but Gruber matches him at every turn, ordering Karl to “shoot the glass” when he notices McClane’s bare feet and even taking Holly hostage to ensure their escape in the finale.
The Nitty-Gritty: I’ve never understood the debate regarding Die Hard’s status as a Christmas movie. Every year, memes and posts and arguments rage about whether it “counts” as a Christmas movie when the evidence is pretty clear that it absolutely is a festive film. For starters, it takes place on Christmas Eve and at the Nakatomi Christmas party; that alone is enough to qualify in my book, but we’ve also got an abundance of Christmas decorations (including trees and presents), a hip Christmas song, and a Christmassy jingle laced into the film’s score. For me, all it takes is for a film to be set during the Christmas season for it to be considered a Christmas movie, making the entire debate redundant from my perspective; plus, it’s a great excuse to watch Die Hard while the turkey’s roasting. The Christmas setting is a great excuse to have Nakatomi Plaza be empty save for its partying employees; it also helps set up some great puns and aggrieved commentary from McClane, who regularly laments about how unfair the situation is. Thanks to a combination of fear, adrenaline, anxiety, and his own juvenile nature, McClane provides a running commentary throughout the film to himself, Powell, and his foes. It’s clear he does this to cope with the extreme danger of his situation, but it also showcases his investigative mind as he ponders the accents and gear of Gruber’s gang, chastises his own reckless behaviour and bad ideas at every opportunity, and assaults his enemies with colourful insults as much as bullets and body blows.
John McClane embodied a different type of action hero, a vulnerable, flawed, smart-ass everyman.
Whilst studying for my PhD thesis, I did a lot of background research into action cinema and, unsurprisingly, Die Hard came up quite a bit, especially regarding discussions of masculinity in Hollywood (and, specifically, this genre). For decades, action cinema and gender roles were defined by physicality; masculinity, especially, was embodied by hyper-masculine heroes like Schwarzenegger and Stallone, but this perception was challenged by the AIDS crisis and smaller, less troublesome statures and heroes became more prominent. Thus, not only did Stallone dramatically reconfigure his persona at this time, but McClane represented something very different to his peers; defined “through the voice, more wise-guy than tough-guy” (Tasker, 1993: 239), McClane was a “perpetual adolescent [who seemed] to be playing games”, cracking jokes and carrying “a sense of surprise and confusion that [the] explosive events are happening to him”. He thus personified the more relatable, rugged “Everyman” action hero; proactive individuals who faced danger not just with a fist or a gun but a smirk and a hefty amount of icy dialogue (ibid). However, McClane remains a figure of masculine power like his peers; Barry Grant (2007) noted that McClane survives multiple milestones throughout and ultimately triumphs, believing McClane’s heroics were linked to masculinity, patriarchy and their mythic representations since he conquers a clearly phallic structure, overcomes numerous male henchmen who challenge his masculinity, and ultimately defeats these villains to reclaim both his masculine potency and his wife. Indeed, Die Hard was noted by Steve Neale (2001) to be progressive in these gender codings as “fantasies of class- and gender-based resistance to the advent of a post-feminist/post-Fordist world [and] all the old lines of force and division between races, classes and genders are both transgressed and redrawn”. While you can read gender and political messages into almost any narrative, there’s some really interesting reading on the subject out there, especially in relation to Die Hard. I think what impresses me the most about this is how it allows the film, and this largely dismissed genre, to gain a bit more legitimacy in the eyes of academics; sure, it’s a bombastic action flick filled with blood squibs, wise cracks, and elaborate stunts but that doesn’t stop it from having intriguing academic appeal and opening discussions regarding gender roles.
Amidst the explosions and gunfights, Die Hard has a raw and brutal edge to its set pieces.
Indeed, while Die Hard is easily the most grounded and subdued of the franchise, which upped the ante to almost ridiculous (but no less entertaining) degrees, it still has some impressive set pieces, especially for a film set largely in one location. There’s the aforementioned APV assault, which sees the foyer rocked by explosions and ends with an impressive (if slightly dodgy) composite shot of McClane chucking C4 down an elevator shaft. And before this we have fun stuff like McClane blasting Marco (Lorenzo Caccialanza) through a table and then tossing him out a window, where he crashes onto Powell’s car and finally gets the LAPD out in full force. McClane’s fist fights with Tony and Karl are very brutal affairs; McClane takes quite a beating in each case and survives only by the skin of his teeth and is left sweaty and bloodied as a result. The damage he accumulates racks up to the point where he starts to consider that the odds aren’t looking too good in his favour; as he gingerly pulls glass shards from his feet, he tries to confide in Powell, who remains the steadfast voice of encouragement and hope. Things continue to escalate when Theo finally cracks the vault and Gruber enacts his final deception; he agrees to let the hostages go in exchange for safe passage on a helicopter, knowing full well that the FBI will double-cross him and rigging the rooftop landing pad to blow. Thanks to McClane, the hostages get to safety but Johnson and Johnson aren’t so lucky as their chopper is engulfed by the explosion. McClane, however, proves as resourceful as ever, leaping from the roof with a firehose as a makeshift safety line and smashing his way back into the building, narrowly avoiding a fatal fall in the process. Indeed, the film’s title is certainly apt as McClane continually avoids death even when he should probably have died several times over, though this takes a visual toll on his body and his mind as the film progresses, with him becoming noticeably bloodier and more desperate as things escalate.
An injured and exhausted McClane ultimately topples Gruber and reunites with his wife.
Thankfully, Powell in on hand to keep him together; their many radio exchanges see Powell shamefully admit to his mistake, which saw him transfer to a desk job and holster his revolver, an emotional arc that reaches a crescendo in the film’s final moments when Powell is forced to shoot Karl dead when he suddenly springs to life, thus allowing Powell to regain his confidence (and, if you want to read it that way, his own sense of masculinity; guns are a very phallic object, after all). After spending the whole movie pretending to be this cultured, intellectual terrorist revolutionary, Holly is disgusted and stunned to learn that Gruber’s simply in it for the money. Although many of his men have been killed by McClane, Gruber finally gets into Takagi’s safe and prepares to make his getaway, taking Holly as his hostage for collateral. However, McClane stumbles out from the embers, exhausted and bloody, to confront Gruber once more; as ever, though, he’s outnumbered and outgunned and dare not make a move since Gruber has Holly at gunpoint. With no other choice, McClane drops his gun and surrenders to Gruber, who prepares to shoot him and mockingly repeats a taunt McClane had flippantly thrown his way earlier, “Yippee-ki-yay, motherfuker”, causing them both to break out in laughter. This is all the distraction McClane needs to enact his final, desperate gambit; with his hands behind his head in a submissive gesture, he retrieves a pistol he taped to his back, guns down Eddie (Dennis Haden), and incapacitates Gruber with a shot, despite taking another bullet in the process. This sees the mortally wounded Gruber topple out the window, but he proves as persistent as his nemesis; caught up on Holly’s wristwatch (a gift from Takagi for her hard work), he prepares to shoot McClane only to be sent suddenly plunging to his death when McClane rips the watch from his wife’s wrist, symbolically shedding Holly from her career and returning her into the arms of her grateful and remorseful husband, their relationship having been galvanised by the whole traumatic ordeal.
The Summary: Christmas is a great time of year. The food, the atmosphere, the presents…and the movies! Every year, I get to re-watch some of my favourite Christmas-themed films and Die Hard absolutely makes that list. Yes, you can (and should) watch it any time of the year but why not at Christmas, when the movie is set? Honestly, this is one of the all-time greats of the genre; more of an action/thriller, the film is a hugely entertaining depiction of one tenacious man’s fight against overwhelming odds and, while it can sometimes feel a little lengthy, it’s very fun and always enjoyable to watch every time. John McClane is a very different type of action hero; he’s vulnerable and flawed and has a smart mouth and a never-say-die attitude. He’s the perfect monkey wrench in Hans Gruber’s meticulous plot to get rich quick and the dichotomy between the two is half the fun of the movie. Even though they share very little screen time together, you can see them both growing more desperate and riled up and eager to take the other out as the film progresses, and this rising tension is both palpable and reflected in the escalating violence and destruction. I loved McClane’s snarky attitude, his quips and one-liners, and the humanising relationship between him and Al Powell, which really helps you remember that these action heroes are just normal people, deep down beneath the machismo. Another thing I love is how raw Die Hard is; it’s grounded and dirty and gritty and it really makes you feel it every time McClane takes a shot or a beating or a fall. Although it’s easy to just turn your brain off and enjoy a good time, I do like how the film invites deeper readings and academic discussion with its depiction of gender, masculinity, and violence. For me, Die Hard has endured the test of time; it reinvigorated the action genre and created one of the best protagonists of action cinema and it’s one of those films I both genuinely look forward to watching time and time again and which just gets better the more you watch it.
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Fantastic
Are you a fan of Die Hard? Did you like how it reinvigorated the action genre with a snarky everyman hero or are you a fan of the more over-the-top protagonists? What did you think to Hans Gruber’s plan, his portrayal, and his crew? Did you enjoy McClane’s tenacity and snarky attitude? What did you think to the set pieces? Do you consider Die Hard to be a Christmas movie? What are your plans for Christmas Day today? Whatever your thoughts, feel free to comment down before and have a great Christmas!
Over the years, there have been many theories about when the world will end but one of the more prevalent was the mistaken belief that doomsday would befall us on December 21st 2012 based on the Mayan calendar ending on this day. Of course, not only did this not happen but it wasn’t even based on any actual fact to begin with. Still, doomsday scenarios and depictions of the end of the world have been an enduring genre in fiction so I figure today was a good day to dedicate some time to this popular concept.
Released: 29 July 2013 Director: Bong Joon-ho Distributor: CJ Entertainment/Lionsgate Budget: $40 million Stars: Chris Evans, Song Kang-ho, Jamie Bell, Tilda Swinton, John Hurt, and Ed Harris
The Plot: After an attempt to reverse global warming causes an ice age to render the Earth uninhabitable, the remnants of humanity are crammed into a circumnavigational train, the Snowpiercer, where the elite thrive in the extravagant front cars and the poor struggle in squalid tail-end compartments. With tensions rising, Curtis Everett (Evans) prepares to lead an uprising against the train’s domineering authority, represented by Minister Mason (Swinton).
The Background: Snowpiercer began life as a French language graphic novel, Le Transperceneige (Lob, et al, 1982); after discovering a copy in a South Korean comic book shop in 2005, director Bong Koon-ho was immediately fascinatedby the story’s depiction of social classes desperately vying for survival in a claustrophobic, post-apocalyptic scenario. Despite his fascination with the graphic novel, and having secured the rights to a live-action adaptation thanks to his friendship with fellow director Park Chan-wook, development of the film took a great deal of timeto get off the ground. Star Chris Evans came on board (no pun intended) in 2012; although he brought with him a mainstream star power thanks to his prominence in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Bong had to employ someclever filmmaking techniques to hide the actor’s muscular physique during filming. Featuring some complex practical and computer effectsto render the titular train’s numerous cars and the desolate frozen wasteland of the outside world, Snowpiercer had the largest film budget of all time for any film with Korean investors but its theatrical release was limited to South Korea at the time. Still, while Snowpiercer’s box office may not have been the most spectacular, the film received largelypositive reviews, was widely regardedas one of the best films of 2014, and eventually led to a television adaptation in 2020.
The Review: Snowpiercer presents a unique spin on the concept of a global disaster movie; while we’ve seen ice ages and frozen Earth films before, I’m hard pressed to think of one where we were directly, unequivocally responsible for the planet becoming a block of ice and snow much less one where the few remnants of humanity were crammed inside a world-spanning, perpetual motion train.
The tail section lives in abject poverty and is routinely abused by the upper classes.
Immediately, the film’s depiction of class and social segregation is made explicitly clear; Curtis, his young friend Edgar (Bell), and his fellow lower classes are forced to live in abject poverty and extremely cramped, disgusting conditions like homeless vagrants. Muddy, dishevelled, and little more than meek, subservient cattle, the lower ends are fed nauseating protein blocks and held at the mercy of the upper classes and the train’s armed guards, who do not hesitate to beat them mercilessly or tear children away from their mothers. Curtis, a principal figurehead amidst the dregs of the train, is very much a reluctant leader and uncomfortable with his position after a traumatic experience in the past. Indebted to Gilliam (Hurt), the aged, half-crippled true leader of the resistance movement, Curtis begrudgingly uses his powers of observation and force of will to help co-operate with prisoner Namgoong “Nam” Minsoo (Kang-ho) in a desperate attempt to storm the train’s length to seize control of the engine (and, thus, the “world”), and kill its operator, Wilford (Harris).
Much to Curtis’s chagrin, Edgar worships and looks up to him as a leader and a brother.
Much to Curtis’s chagrin, Edgar worships him as a hero and leader and sees him as something of an older brother; optimistic and full of fight, Edgar is willing to follow Curtis into the fray, which greatly disturbs Curtis as he believes that Edgar is willing to die for nothing. Their relationship is one based on both necessity and a lifetime of lies as Curtis carries tremendous guilt after he nearly killed and ate Edgar when he was just a baby. Such abject mania and cannibalism was rife in the early days of the train and many of the back-end’s inhabitants, such as Gilliam, are missing limbs after being willingly (or forced) to offer sustenance to their fellow passengers.
Snowpiercer features a diverse cast, making communication another source of contention.
Snowpiercer features an extremely diverse cast, with many of the supporting characters being South Korean actors; the most prominent of which is Curtis’s contact, Nam, and his seventeen-year-old daughter, Yona (Ko Asung). Both are addicted to a coal-like waste by-product, Kronole, which offers abusers a hallucinogenic high, yet Nam is instrumental to their efforts since he designed all the doors and locks on the train and his daughter exhibits some degree of clairvoyance. Since Namgoong mainly communicates in Korean, Curtis and the others are forced to communicate with him through the use of an unreliable mechanical translation device, though there are many instances of subtitles as well.
Mason is an abominable, despicable coward who’s only looking after her own self interests.
The upper classes are condescending, well-kept, and ruthless individuals who regularly lord their position and power over the lower classes; none embody Wilford’s order or the will of the upper class more than the detestable Minister Mason. A comical figure in many ways, sporting a pompous Yorkshire accent, an elaborate sense of style, and a self-righteous attitude, she stresses the importance of social order and subjugation through capital punishment and fully believes that everyone, and everything, must adhere to their pre-ordained place to maintain society and order.
Against overwhelming odds and cruel oppressors, Curtis’s rebellion is a bloody and brutal affair.
Even after decades of suppression and failed revolutions, which have resulted in countless deaths and mutilations, the lower classes maintain a degree of resistance and fighting spirit; thankfully, those same years have taken their toll on the upper classes, who have not only become complacent but have also run out of bullets over the years. As a result, Curtis’s campaign to seize the train takes the guards completely off-guard and is, initially, somewhat successful. Along the way, they discover to repulsive truth behind the protein bars and are enamoured by seeing the sun, the outside world, and the opulence of the upper classes. Much death and violence accompany this push to the front, however, resulting in the sudden death of Edgar and turning Curtis’s mission into one of revenge as much as liberty.
The Nitty-Gritty: Snowpiercer is an extremely bleak and claustrophobic tale, full of dark, desolate lighting and a surprising variety of environments considering the entire film takes place on overcrowded train carts. The back end is a grim, gloomy area that is little more than a slum but, as Curtis’s revolution proceeds through the train, environments become much more elaborate and ornate as we see the luxury and indulgence that the upper class surround themselves in.
The train’s construction and stability raises some questions but it’s definitely a unique premise.
This includes a fully-functioning school (which teaches the children of the upper class to respect and pay reverence to the train and to Wilford as though they are some kind of religious icon), lavish first-class cabins equipped with lighting, heating, and actual cooked food, and such extravagances as musicians and even a greenhouse, aquarium, and hot tubs. Of course, as with many post-apocalyptic tales, there are some questions raised by Snowpiercer’s concept and left unanswered: the train is, by definition, a perpetual motion engine that circles the world endlessly thanks to being powered by small children but, while we see it precariously clinging to the tracks throughout the film, it’s pretty obvious that the train, its tracks, or the many bridges would surely have degraded or been destroyed by the extreme cold.
It’s a hardlifein an even harsher world and revolution carries a heavy cost.
Still, I can forgive a lot of these questions mainly because the film does go to some lengths to address some of the main ones (by explaining that Wilford had the foresight and the capital to prepare his train tracks and engine before the world went to Hell) and the rest are best left to one side as a degree of suspension of disbelief is necessary to allow the film to actually happen. Additionally, the overall concept of the subjugated lower classes rising in a desperate suicide mission to take control of the train is compelling enough to carry the film even through its more preposterous ideas. After a particularly bloody and costly battle through the train, Curtis secures safe passage through the train by taking Mason hostage and is disgusted to see the extent to which the upper classes indulge themselves. At the mercy of the lower classes, Mason’s previously haughty attitude and lofty position is shattered as she is force-fed the protein blocks and sells out her beloved Wilford purely to save her own wretched hide. Thankfully, as satisfying as it is to see her reduced to a blubbering wreck, she gets her ultimate comeuppance when she is duly executed by Curtis not only for the deaths and suffering she has willing taking part in over the years but also for indirectly being responsible for Gilliam’s death.
After Curtis rejects Wilford and derails the train, the two survivors face an uncertain future.
There are a number of dramatic twists that await Curtis at the head of the train; the first is that Gilliam and Wilford conspired to inspire Curtis’s rebellion simply to maintain the train’s delicate and ghastly self-sustaining ecosystem by killing off a large portion of the tail section. The second is that Wilford, seeing the need for a successor, offers Curtis the opportunity to take over as the train’s operator but, while he is tempted, having lost everything and in the face of mass executions, Curtis violently refuses when Yona reveals that the engine is powered by children from the tail section. In that moment, Curtis finally sacrifices not just a limb for his fellow passengers but also himself to derail the train and leave Yuna and the boy, Timmy (Marcanthonee Reis), to an uncertain future in a world that may be slowly thawing.
The Summary: Snowpiercer is a fantastically dreary and depressing tale about the decaying and desperate remnants of humanity being forced into a claustrophobic space, separated by class and social standing, and forced to either scramble for survival and scraps and eek out a pathetic existence in the tail end or indulge in their every desire and whim at the front end. Trapped under the thumb of their oppressors and driven by hunger and desperation, Curtis is determined to see his mission through simply because of the suffering and death he has witnessed first-hand and his hatred of both himself and Wilford for forcing them to live in such conditions. As far as post-apocalyptic tales go, you could do a lot worse than Snowpiercer, which expertly focuses its narrative on this fragile ecosystem and presents a desolate, desperate tale of survival within a suffocating, oppressive space that separates it from its competition and results in a bleak and intense story of desperation and survival.
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Pretty Good
Are you a fan of Snowpiercer? How do you feel it holds up against other post-apocalyptic tales? Were you a fan of the social and class issues represented in the film and or did its bleak atmosphere put you off? Have you read the original graphic novel and, if so, how do you feel Snowpiercer works as an adaptation? Perhaps you were more a fan of the later television adaptation; if so, why is that and how does it compare to the film? How are you celebrating the end of the world today?Whatever your thoughts on Snowpiercer, feel free to leave a comment down below.
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